UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


BRJSTED,  John,  clergyman  and  author,  was 
born  in  Dorsetshire,  England,  in  1778.  His  father 
was  a  clergyman  of  the  established  church,  and  after 
a  careful  training  he  was  graduated  at  Winchester 
College.  He  then  studied  medicine  in  Edinburgh, 
and  after  mastering  that  science,  read  Jaw  in  * 


fice  of  the  celebrated  Joseph  Chitty,  editor  of  Black* 
stone's  "Commentaries."  As  he  himself  expresses 
it,  he  "  during  two  years  of  pupilage  in  the  office  of 
Mr.  Chitty,  cultivated  the  melancholy  science  of 
special  pleading,"  and  at  the  end  of  that  time,  was 
admitted  to^tluTjjar  and  became  a  member  of  the 
society  of  barnsters  of  the  InuerJTejnple.  In  180(? 
he  removed  to  New  York  city,  where,  for  twenty^ 
three  years,  he  practiced  his  profession  with  distinc- 
tion and  success.  He  also  found  time  for  consider- 
able work  irTfhe  line  of  general  literature  and  lectur- 
ing ;  published  several  books,  which  have  been  ?ur- 
ther  preserved  to  fame  by  the  caustic  critiques  they 
evoked  from  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  and  was  during 
several  years,  from  1807,  connected  with  the '  'Month- 
ly Register  Magazine,  and  Review  of  the  United 
States,"  a  periodical  founded  in  1805  by  Stephen 
Cullen  Carpenter  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  A  prospectus 
of  his  lecture  courses  published  in  1814^exhibits  a 
wide  range  of  subjects — covering,  in  lour  courses  of 
at  least  n^y  lectures  each,  such  subjects  as  meta- 
physics, history,  political  economy,  the  science  of 
government,  and  common,  statute  and  international 
law.  During  the  same  year  he  del! 


on  "The  Utility  of  Jjiterary  Estab1  of  divinity  with  Bishop  Griswold  of  the  Eastern 
opening  of  Eastburn's  Literary  ]  <ji0cese,  he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1828. 
"  ' 


ited  activities  finally  determined  h 
in  the  Episcopal  church,  and  tat 


, 

fittingly  designated  as  "the  germ  jje  at  once  became  the  bishop's  assistant  in  the  rec- 
since  happily  realized  in  such  am  torsnip  of  St.  Michael's  Church,  Bristol,  R.  I.,  and, 
the  A  stor  Library."  Such  scholar  after  njs  removal  to  Massachusetts  in  the  following 

vear  SUCCeeded  him  as  rector.     Here  he  remained 
^nlif  ^43,  and  then  failing  in  health,  he  retired 
from  active  life.     He  was  efficient  in  organizing^St. 
Mark's  Church,  Warren,  R.  I.,  and  labored  long  and 
earnestly  to  extend  episcopacy  in  the  state.      Mr. 
Bristed  was  of  ardent  temperament,  quick  in  his  per- 
ceptions and  enthusiastic  in  convictions.     He  had  a 
strong  will,  and  his  industry  was  unflagging.     As  a 
preacher  he  discovered  the  same  earnestness  and 
thoroughness,  hitherto  found  in  his  lectures  and  writ- 
ten efforts  ;  his  sermons  were  replete  with  sugges- 
tion, although  inclined  to  rhetorical  ornamentation. 
One  of  the  most  characteristic  of  his  published  writ- 
ings is  "  A  nthcoplanomenos  ;  or,  A  Pedestrian  Tour 
Through  Part  of  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  in  1801  " 
(2  vols.,  XS04).     The  punning  Greek  title  suggests 
the  generaTtenor  of  the  work,  which  is  thus  wittily 
described  in  "  Aikin's  Annual  Review,"  the  year  of  its 
publication  ;    "Mr.  Bristed  and  his  companion,  Dr. 
Andrew  Cowan,  traveled  through  the  Highlands  in 
the  character  of  American,  jailors.     They  roam  the 
country  in  forma  pauperum,  descant  loudly  on  the 
luxuries  of  the  great  and  the  miseries  of  the  poor, 
go  from  pot-house  to  pot-house  for  half  a  bed,  com- 
plain of  the  jealousy  of  the  police,  because  they  are 
taken  up  for  spies,  and  of  the  frequent  inhospitality 
of  the  Scots,  because  they  are  not  welcomed  as  gen- 
tlemen."   He  also  published  "The  Aclyjser;    or, 
The  Moral  and  Literary  Tribunal  "  (lfiQ2)  ;    "  Criti- 
cal and  Philosophical  E^a^sJ.'  (1804)  ;  "The  Sys- 
tem of  the  Society  of_F_rj£nds  Examined"  (1805)  ; 
"Edward  and  Amia»ll,a  novel  (1805);    "  Hints  on 
the  National  Bankruptcy  of  Britain,   and  ouher 
Resources  to  Maintain  the    Present  Contest  with 
France  "  (1809)  ;  "  The  Resources  of  the  British 
Empire,  together  with  a  View  of  the  Probable  Re- 
sult of  the  Present  Contest  Between   Britain  and 
France  "  (1811)  ;    "Resources  of  the  United  States 
of  America  ;  or,  A  View  of  the  Agricultural,  Com- 
mercial, Manufacturing,  Financial,  Political,  Liter- 
ary, Moral  and  Religious  Capacity  and  Character  of 

"nnrl    "  Thrmo-lits  on 


/  ^ 4 


*f  -" 


THE 

RESOURCES 

OF    THE 


OF 


OR, 

A  VIEW 

OF 

THE  AGRICULTURAL,   COMMERCIAL, 

f  FINANCIAL,   POLITICAL,    LITERARY, 
MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  CAPACITY 
AND   CHARACTER 

OF    THE 

AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 


BY  JOHN  BRISTED, 

COUNSELLOR  AT  LAW. 
AUTHOR  OF  THE  RESOURCES  OF  THE  BRITISH  EMPIRE. 

— •-  ooo- — 

£v  £t  <»ei  x.ctt  sA.-i-6-ov  ! 


PUBLISHED  BY  JAMES  EASTBURN  &  CO. 

AT    THB  LITERARY   ROOMS,   BROADWAY,    CORNBR  O» 
PINE-STREET. 


Abraham  Paul,  printer, 

1818. 


Southern  District  of  New-York,  ss. 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  that  on  the  seventh  day  of  February,  in  the  forty-second 
year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  John  Bristed,  of  the 
said  district,  hath  deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  he  claims 
as  Author  and  Proprietor,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit : 

"  The  Resources  of  the  United  States  of  America ;  or,  a  View  of  the  Agricultural, 
"Commercial,  Manufacturing,  Financial,  Political,  Literary,  Moral  and  Religious 
"  Capacity  and  Character  of  the  American  People.  By  John  Bristed,  Counsellor  at 
"  Law.  Author  of  the  Resources  of  the  British  Empire. 

"  Ev  <fi  <p a.tt  »«./  tKtvo-oi !" 

Tn  conformity  to  the  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled  "  an  Act  for  the 
encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books  to  the 
authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned."  And  also 
to  an  Act,  entitled  "  an  Act  supplementary  to  an  Act,  entitled  an  Act  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books  to  the  authors  and 
proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,  and  extending  the  bene- 
fits thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving1,  and  etching  historical  and  other  prints. 

JAMES  DILL, 
Clerk  of  the  Southern  District  of  New-York. 


DEDICATION. 


TO  THE 

HOJV.  JAMES  KEJVT, 

CHANCELLOR    OF    THE    STATE    OF    NEW-YORK. 

SIR, 

WILL  you  permit  me  to  place  under  your 

protection   the   following  pages,  in  which  it  is 

attempted  to  present  a  brief  outline  of  the  Re- 

$  sources  and  Character  of  a  Country,  whose  public 

|  weal  you  have  so  powerfully  upheld  by  your  judi- 

C  cial  talents  and  learning  ;  whose  private  Interests 

^  have  been  promoted,  and  whose  private  relations 

*   have  been  uniformly  gladdened,  by  your  social 

v,  and  domestic  virtues  ? 

I  have  the  honour  to  be, 
Sir, 

Your  much  obliged 

And  most  obedient  servant, 

3  JOHN  BRISTEJ). 

^ 

New-York,  1818. 


X) 


401498 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  year  1809,  when  the 
result  of  the  battle  of  Wagramhad  convinced  the  Ame- 
rican public  that  the  continent  of  Europe  was  finally 
subdued,  and  that  England  alone  remained  "  an  easy 
prey  to  the  all-conquering  arms  of  the  Great  Napoleon," 
I  ventured  to  oppose  the  headlong  current  of  popular 
opinion  ;  and  in  the  "  Hints  on  the  National  Bankruptcy 
of  Britain,  and  on  her  resources  to  maintain  the  present 
contest  with  France"  (afterward  republished  under 
the  title  of  "  Resources  of  the  British  Empire")  under- 
took to  demonstrate  that  the  final  destruction  of  the 
overgrown  power  of  France  was  to  be  expected; 
First,  from  the  nature  of  the  French  political  and  mili- 
tary institutions  ;  Secondly,  from  the  resistance  of  the 
people  of  Continental  Europe;  and,  Thirdly,  from  the 
resources  of  the  British  empire. 

This  work  was  no  sooner  published  than  many  pro- 
found politicians  pronounced  the  author  to  be  "  a  vi- 
sionary fanatic,  a  mere  closet  recluse,  unacquainted  with 
men  and  things,  deficient  in  judgment,  and  wanting 
common  sense;"  and  persisted,  with  increased  vehe- 
mence, as  they  inhaled  fresh  inspirations  from  the 
"  scwi  spiracula  Ditis"  to  prophesy  that  France  "  would 
soon  stretch  her  sceptre  over  the  whole  of  Europe, 
plant  her  tri-coloured  flag  on  the  Tower  of  London, 


VI  ADVERTISEMENT. 

and  establish  a  Gallic  viceroy  in  the  palace  of  St. 
James."  That  controversy,  I  presume,  is  now  closed, 
by  the  events  of  the  years  1812,  1813,  1814,  and  1815  r 
and  by  the  present  residence  of  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Exile,  whom  those  sagacious  statesmen  so  long  wor- 
shipped as  the  god  of  their  idolatry. 

In  the  Advertisement  to  the  "  Hints  on  the  National 
Bankruptcy  of  Britain"  it  was  said,  "  the  consideration 
of  the  domestic  policy,  the  foreign  relations,  the  man- 
ners and  habits,  the  laws,  religion,  morals,  literature, 
and  science  of  this  very  interesting  and  unparalleled 
country,  whose  institutions  are  almost  entirely  unknown 
to  the  people  of  Europe,  and  not  sufficiently  understood, 
at  least  in  their  remoter  consequences,  by  the  general 
body  of  our  own  citizens,  I  shall  take  up,  as  soon  as  I 
have  leisure  and  opportunity  to  arrange  the  great  mass 
of  materials,  facts,  documents,  and  state-papers,  re- 
specting these  United  States,  with  which  I  am  furnished 
by  the  careful  and  diligent  collection  of  more  than  three 
years,  aided  by  the  abundant  and  liberal  communica- 
tions of  some  American  gentlemen,  who  have  distin- 
guished themselves  as  statesmen  of  the  highest  order, 
by  the  zeal,  fidelity,  industry,  and  talent,  with  which 
they  have  discharged  the  most  arduous  political  duties, 
both  in  their  own  country  and  in  the  courts  of  the  most 
powerful  European  kingdoms." 

More  than  eight  years  have  now  elapsed,  since  it  was 
then  proposed  to  publish  a  "  View  of  the  Resources  of 
the  United  States."  Those  eight  years  have  added  very 
considerably  to  the  bulk  and  interest  of  the  collection 
then  formed  ;  and  the  following  pages,  selected  and  di- 
gested from  the  voluminous  masses  of  materials  relating 
to  our  federative  Republic,  are  offered  to  the  reader  as 


ADVERTISEMENT.  YU 

an  effort  to  redeem  the  pledge,  given  so  long  since  as 
October,  1809. 

It  is  not  intended,  in  the  present  work,  to  give  a  sta- 
tistical view  of  the  United  States.  This  has  been  done 
already,  with  so  much  ability  and  accuracy,  by  the 
Honourable  Mr.  Pitkin,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Connecticut,  that  the  political  economist  has  only  to  re- 
sort to  his  book  for  ample  instruction  on  the  commerce, 
agriculture,  manufactures,  public  debt,  revenues,  and 
expenditures  of  the  United  States.  To  Mr.  Pitkin's 
"  Statistical  View"  the  following  pages  are  much  in- 
debted j  and  I  beg  leave  to  embrace  this  opportunity 
of  presenting  to  that  gentleman  my  grateful  acknow- 
ledgments for  his  very  kind  and  liberal  offer  to  furnish 
me  with  his  own  collection  of  documents  respecting  the 
United  States;  a  collection  unrivalled  in  extent  and 
value,  and  containing,  in  more  than  a  hundred  printed 
volumes,  besides  innumerable  manuscripts,  all  the  ne- 
cessary information  respecting  North  America,  from  her 
earliest  settlement ;  and,  more  especially,  respecting 
these  United  States,  from  their  first  establishment  to 
the  present  hour. 

The  object  proposed  in  the  following  work,  is  merely 
to  give  a  brief  outline  of  the  physical,  intellectual,  and 
moral  character,  capacity,  and  resources  of  the  United 
States ;  with  an  entire  determination  to  steer  clear  of 
all  undue  bias  for  or  against  either  of  the  great  con- 
tending political  parties,  which  divide,  agitate,  and  go- 
vern this  ever-widening  Republic.  As  I  have  never 
received,  nor  sought  any  favour  or  benefit  from  any 
one  of  the  numerous  parties  which  have  had  their  day 
of  triumph  and  defeat,  in  the  quick  succession,  and  rapid 
alternations  which  so  peculiarly  characterize  all  the 


VI  ADVERTISEMENT. 

and  establish  a  Gallic  viceroy  in  the  palace  of  St. 
James."  That  controversy,  I  presume,  is  now  closed, 
by  the  events  of  the  years  1812, 1813,  1814,  and  1815,- 
and  by  the  present  residence  of  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Exile,  whom  those  sagacious  statesmen  so  long  wor- 
shipped as  the  god  of  their  idolatry. 

In  the  Advertisement  to  the  "  Hints  on  the  National 
Bankruptcy  of  Britain"  it  was  said,  "  the  consideration 
of  the  domestic  policy,  the  foreign  relations,  the  man- 
ners and  habits,  the  laws,  religion,  morals,  literature, 
and  science  of  this  very  interesting  and  unparalleled 
country,  whose  institutions  are  almost  entirely  unknown 
to  the  people  of  Europe,  and  not  sufficiently  understood, 
at  least  in  their  remoter  consequences,  by  the  general 
body  of  our  own  citizens,  I  shall  take  up,  as  soon  as  I 
have  leisure  and  opportunity  to  arrange  the  great  mass 
of  materials,  facts,  documents,  and  state-papers,  re- 
specting these  United  States,  with  which  I  am  furnished 
by  the  careful  and  diligent  collection  of  more  than  three 
years,  aided  by  the  abundant  and  liberal  communica- 
tions of  some  American  gentlemen,  who  have  distin- 
guished themselves  as  statesmen  of  the  highest  order, 
by  the  zeal,  fidelity,  industry,  and  talent,  with  which 
they  have  discharged  the  most  arduous  political  duties, 
both  in  their  own  country  and  in  the  courts  of  the  most 
powerful  European  kingdoms." 

More  than  eight  years  have  now  elapsed,  since  it  was 
then  proposed  to  publish  a  "  View  of  the  Resources  of 
the  United  States."  Those  eight  years  have  added  very 
considerably  to  the  bulk  and  interest  of  the  collection 
then  formed  ;  and  the  following  pages,  selected  and  di- 
gested from  the  voluminous  masses  of  materials  relating 
to  our  federative  Republic,  are  offered  to  the  reader  as 


ADVERTISEMENT.  Yll 

an  effort  to  redeem  the  pledge,  given  so  long  since  as 
October,  1809. 

It  is  not  intended,  in  the  present  work,  to  give  a  sta- 
tistical view  of  the  United  States.  This  has  been  done 
already,  with  so  much  ability  and  accuracy,  by  the 
Honourable  Mr.  Pitkin,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Connecticut,  that  the  political  economist  has  only  to  re- 
sort to  his  book  for  ample  instruction  on  the  commerce, 
agriculture,  manufactures,  public  debt,  revenues,  and 
expenditures  of  the  United  States.  To  Mr.  Pitkin's 
*'  Statistical  View"  the  following  pages  are  much  in- 
debted j  and  I  beg  leave  to  embrace  this  opportunity 
of  presenting  to  that  gentleman  my  grateful  acknow- 
ledgments for  his  very  kind  and  liberal  offer  to  furnish 
me  with  his  own  collection  of  documents  respecting  the 
United  States;  a  collection  unrivalled  in  extent  and 
value,  and  containing,  in  more  than  a  hundred  printed 
volumes,  besides  innumerable  manuscripts,  all  the  ne- 
cessary information  respecting  North  America,  from  her 
earliest  settlement ;  and,  more  especially,  respecting 
these  United  States,  from  their  first  establishment  to 
the  present  hour. 

The  object  proposed  in  the  following  work,  is  merely 
to  give  a  brief  outline  of  the  physical,  intellectual,  and 
moral  character,  capacity,  and  resources  of  the  United 
States ;  with  an  entire  determination  to  steer  clear  of 
all  undue  bias  for  or  against  either  of  the  great  con- 
tending political  parties,  which  divide,  agitate,  and  go- 
vern this  ever-widening  Republic.  As  I  have  never 
received,  nor  sought  any  favour  or  benefit  from  any 
one  of  the  numerous  parties  which  have  had  their  day 
of  triumph  and  defeat,  in  the  quick  succession,  and  rapid 
alternations  which  so  peculiarly  characterize  all  the 


viii  ADVERTISEMENT. 

movements  of  men  and  things,  under  our  popular  insti- 
tutions, I  may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to  say,  in  relation 
to  those  parties,  whether  dominant  or  defeated, 

"  Tros,  Tyriusque  mihi  nullo  discrimine  agetur." 

After  a  few  introductory  remarks  on  the  importance 
of  a  right  acquaintance  with  the  resources  and  cha- 
racter of  the  United  States,  and  the  grievous  misrepre- 
sentation of  them  by  European  writers,  the  first  chapter 
exhibits  the  territorial  aspect,  population,  agriculture, 
and  navigable  capacities  of  the  United  States ;  the  se- 
cond, their  commerce,  home  and  foreign ;  the  third,  their 
manufactures;  the  fourth,  their  finances;  the  fifth, 
their  government,  policy,  and  laws;  the  sixth,  their 
literature,  arts,  and  science ;  the  seventh,  their  religion, 
morals,  habits,  manners,  and  character.  The  work  is 
concluded  by  an  eye-glance  at  the  present  condition  of 
Europe,  particularly  of  Spain,  France,  England,  and 
Russia,  and  the  probable  consequences  of  the  present 
European  coalition  to  these  United  States. 

JOHN  EXISTED. 

Mew-York,  January  14^,  1818. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


DEDICATION. — Advertisement — general  conviction  of  the 
United  States,  in  1£09,  that  France  would  conquer  England,  v.— 
that  conviction  opposed  by  the  author  then,  ibid. — intention,  at  that 
time,  to  give  a  view  of  the  United  States,  vi. — Mr.  Pitkin's  Statistics, 
vii. — plan  of  the  present  work,  ibid. 

INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 

Capacity  and  character  of  the  United  States  not  understood  in  Eu- 
rope, 1 — their  importance,  2 — Atlantic  and  Western,  3 — misrepre- 
sented by  travellers,  4 — as  Imlay,  Parkinson,  Ashe,  Jansen,  &c. 
5 — Brissot's  theory  of  the  United  States,  6 — Gilbert's  theory,  8 — 
books  on  the  United  States  recommended,  9 — why  the  present 
work  was  written,  10. 

CHAPTER  I. 

TERRITORY,  AGRICULTURE,  POPULATION,  AND  NAVIGABLE 
CAPACITY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Territorial  aspect  of  the  United  States,  1 1 — population  of  the 
United  States,  and  other  countries,  15 — rapid  growth  of  the  United 
States,  17 — of  New-York,  Baltimore,  Kentucky,  New-Orleans,  18 
— foreign  emigrants,  20 — salubrity  of  the  United  States,  21 — popu- 
lation of  the  United  States  ;  how  raised  and  distributed,  22 — Vir- 
ginia population,  23— agriculture  of  the  United  States,  24 — naviga- 
ble capacities  of  the  United  States,  25 — canals  may  connect  the 
whole  union,  ibid. — their  importance,  26 — power  of  Congress  to 
make  them,  27 — the  Alleghany  mountains  and  their  rivers,  28 — 
communications  between  the  Atlantic  rivers,  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
the  Lakes,  32 — the  New-York  canal,  33 — its  importance,  34 — ter- 
ritorial capacities  of  the  United  States,  35 — works  thereon,  36. 

CHAPTER  II. 

COMMERCE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Anti-commercial  theory,  37 — its  folly  and  mischief,  38 — aggregate 
commerce  of  the  world  ;  of  the  United  States  j  of  Britain,  39 — 

2 


X  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

their  commercial  distress,  40 — peculiar  advantages  of  the  United 
States,  40 — their  exports  41— imports,  42 — home  and  foreign  trade, 
43 — tonnage,  44 — tonnage  of  Britain,  France,  and  other  nations,  45 
— United  States  coasting  trade,  and  navy,  ibid. — emancipation  of 
Spanish  America,  46 — its  importance  to  Britain  ;  to  the  United 
States,  47— junction  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  48 — nego- 
tiations with  Britain  and  President  Adams  for  emancipating  Spanish 
America,  49 — necessity  of  exertion  on  the  part  of  Britain,  50. 

CHAPTER  III. 

MANUFACTURES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Connexion  between  agriculture  and  manufactures,  52 — folly  of 
forcing  manufactures,  53 — their  condition  in  the  United  States,  55 
— efforts  to  establish  their  monopoly,  56 — its  evil,  57 — mechanical 
skill  of  the  United  States,  58 — their  chief  manufactures  ;  amount, 
quality,  and  value,  59 — in  the  different  States,  61 — and  in  peculiar 
places,  as  Patterson,  Philadelphia,  62 — Wilmington,  Pittsburg,  63 
— steamboats,  65 — Fulton,  ibid. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FINANCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Necessity  of  internal  taxation,  67 — United  States  taxes  establish- 
ed, destroyed,  68 — mistaken  economy  of  the  United  States,  69 — 
standing  army  of  the  United  States  ;  of  Britain,  70 — importance  of 
taxation,  and  moneyed  institutions,  71— national  debt  of  the  United 
States,  72— loans  of  last  war,  73 — sinking  fund,  74— revenue  of 
the  United  States,  75 — customs,  duties,  &c.  76 — internal  taxes,  81 
—their  apportionment,  82 — United  States  property  in  land,  slaves, 
&c.  83— its  rapid  increase,  85— public  lands,  86— finances  of  the 
United  States  for  1817,  88— aggregate  of  the  United  States  capi- 
tal, income,  and  expenditure,  89— do.  of  Britain  ;  her  deficit,  90 
—do.  of  France,  and  other  powers,  94— purchase  of  Florida,  95— 
contrast  between  the  energy  of  the  United  States  and  supineness  of 
Britain,  96— importance  of  Cuba  to  Britain,  97— feverish  state  of 

Europe,  ibid.— preponderance  of  Russia,  ibid. — Holy  League,  98 

combination  of  Europe  and  the  United  States  against  Britain,  98. 


TABLE  OP  CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  V. 

T,  POLICY,  AND  LAWS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


United  States  governments  all  elective,  99  —  importance  of  po- 
litical economy,  ibid.  —  characteristic  differences  between  ancient 
and  modern  governments,  100  —  best  works  on  political  philosophy, 
106  —  mischief  of  monopolies,  whether  mercantile,  or  manufacturing, 
or  agricultural,  108  —  the  essentials  of  a  good  government,  109  —  na- 
tional sovereignty  of  the  United  States,  111  —  advantages  of  a  writ- 
ten Constitution,  112  —  importance  of  studying  American  polity,  113 

—  relation  of  General  and  State  governments,  114  —  their  probable 
duration,    114—  Barbe  de  Marbois,  115  —  G.  Morris,  ibid.  —  Fede- 
ral Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  its  powers  and  representa- 
tives, 116  —  evils  of  frequent  elections,  117  —  of  voting  by  ballot, 
1^0  —  of  universal   suffrage,   121  —  of  qualifications  in  the  elected, 
ibid.  —  of  disfranchising  the    clergy,   122  —  Senators  of  the  United 
States;  how  appointed,  123  —  importance  of  a  durable  Senate,  124 

—  evils  of  excluding  cabinet  officers  from  the  Legislature,  130  —  of 
under  paying  the  public  servants,  132  —  executive  negative,  134  — 
money  bills,  137  —  general  powers  of  congress,   138  —  evils  of  the 
present  location  of  the  seat  of  the  Federal  Government,  139  — 
slave  system  in  the  United  States,  148  —  in  the  world,  149  —  aboli- 
tion of  the  slave  trade  by  the  United  States,  150  —  evils  of  slavery, 
J51  —  slaves  burned  alive  in  the  United  States,  152  —  attempt  in  the 
United  States  to  colonize  free  blacks,  153  —  best  writers  on  the  Uni- 
ted States  government  and  policy,  156  —  papers  of  General  Hamilton, 
158  —  powers  of  the   United    States   Executive,    159  —  President  ; 
Vice-President;  160  —  how  chosen,  161  —  evils  ofcaitcus,ibid.  —  joint 
powers  of  Executive  and  Senate,  165  —  evils  of  multitudinous  exe- 
cutive in  the  States  generally,  and  particularly  in  New-York,  167  — 
executive  power  of  pardoning  ;  its  importance,  172  —  abused  in  the 
United  States,  174  —  Judicial  powers  of  the  United  States,  175  — 
evils  of  cashiering  Judges  at  sixty,  177  —  requisites  of  independence  in 
judiciar}',  178  —  their  dependence  in  many  of  the  States,  180  —  pow- 
er of  American  judiciary  over  legislative  Acts,   183  —  which  not 
known  in  any  other  country,  184  —  usurpation  of  Georgia  Legisla- 
ture over  the  judiciary,   187  —  importance  of  such  power  in  the 
judiciary,  187  —  diversity  of  laws  in  the  United  States  ;  its  evil  ;   190 

—  crime  committed  in  one  State  not  punishable  in  another,  193  — 


XH     ,  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

duelling;  General  Hamilton  and  his  son,  194— importance  of  uni- 
form laws  in  the  United  States,  195— miscellaneous  powers  of  Con- 
gress, 196 — amendments  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  197 — how 
made,  199 — unsuccessful  attempts  to  make,  201 — by  Senator  Hill- 
house,  ibid the  Hartford  ^Convention,  202— General  Hamilton's 

plan  of  the  United  States  Constitution,  203— paper  constitutions,  206 
— necessity  of  a  vigorous  administration  of  the  Federal  Government, 
207 — Presidents  Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe, 
208 — effects  of  the  Washington  administration  on  the  United  States, 
209 — duty  of  a  wise  government  to  exclude  foreigners  from  all 
political  privileges,  210 — necessity  of  preserving  and  strengthening 
the  federal  Union,  211 — evils  of  its  disruption,  213 — all  new  go- 
vernments weak  ;  instanced  in  Britain  and  the  United  States,  215 — 
general  government  of  the  United  States  too  weak  in  itself,  217 — 
its  probable  career,  218 — chief  characteristics  of  American  institu- 
tions, 220 — population  of  the  United  States  better,  their  govern- 
ment weaker,  than  those  of  Europe,  221 — chief  defects  in  all 
governments,  ancient  and  modern,  222 — peculiar  adaptation  of  the 
United  States  government  to  its  people,  225 — Mr.  Jay's  parallel 
between  European  and  American  governments,  226 — general  course 
of  all  free  governments,  228 — superior  physical,  intellectual,  and 
moral  qualities  of  the  American  people,  229 — increased  power  of 
the  people,  all  over  the  world,  230 — Emperor  Alexander,  231 — 
M.  Talleyrand,  232 — relative  importance  of  the  United  States,  east- 
ern and  western  sections,  233 — probable  consequences  of  western 
predominance,  234 — general  conviction,  in  the  United  States,  of 
superiority  of  American  to  the  British  people,  235 — the  great  ques- 
tion at  issue  between  American  and  European  governments,  236 — 
Resources  of  the  United  States  relatively  greater  than  those  of  Bri- 
tain, 237 — the  revolutionary  question  supported  by  the  United 
States  and  Continental  Europe,  against  England,  241 — its  probable 
result,  242— danger  of  British  Colonies,  particularly  Canada  ;  its 
maladministration,  243 — Cuba  once  offered  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  245 — 
Spanish  American  Colonies  must  fall  to  the  United  States,  whom 
Britain  cannot  conciliate,  246 — Vienna  Treaty,  247— Holy  League, 
ibid.— United  States  more  formidable  to  Britain  than  Russia,  248— 
Mr.  Jackson's  (the  British  Ambassador  to  the  United  States,)  opi- 
nion of  the  American  people,  249— their  capacity  and  character,  in 
peace  and  war,  250 — political  parties  in  the  United  States,  251 — 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS,  Xlll 

their  views  and  objects,  ibid. — home  policy  of  the  United  States,  252 
— their  skilful  diplomacy,  252 — its  importance,  253 — skilful  diploma- 
cy of  France  and  Russia  contrasted  with  the  diplomatic  blunders  of 
England,  254 — origin  and  progress  of  the  armed  neutrality,  from 
1754  to  1815,  259 — causes  of  England's  unskilful  diplomacy,  265— 
her  intrinsic  home  power,  267 — Mr.  Jefferson's  prophecy  concern- 
ing her,  in  1782,  269— LAWS  of  the  United  States  and  the  world 
generally,  270 — their  study  most  important,  271 — necessity  of 
Lectures  on,  in  the  United  States,  273 — effect  of  the  study  of  law 
on  the  human  understanding,  275 — Mr.  Burke,  276 — Mr.  Canning, 
277 — author  of  Pursuits  of  Literature,  278 — Lord  Thurlow,  Lord 
Kenyon,  Lord  Bacon,  279 — superiority  of  the  common  to  the  civil 
law,  283— its  prevalence  in  the  United  States,  284 — outline  of  legal 
study,  285 — some  defects  in  the  juridical  system  of  America,  286— 
no  remedy  against  the  United  States  or  a  separate  State,  286 — bad 
insolvent  laws,  287 — lower  law-officers  badly  appointed,  ibid — 
usury,  ibid. — poor-laws,  288 — New- York  Sunday  School  Union, 
ibid. — defects  of  New-York  Constitution,  292 — necessity  of  amend- 
ing New- York  Constitution,  ibid. — its  Court  of  Errors,  &c.  293 — 
no  Bar,  in  a  free  country,  can  be  overstocked,  294 — lawyers 
govern  the  United  States,  ibid. — the  American  Bar  averages  a 
greater  amount  of  talent  than  the  British,  295 — characteristics  of 
American  and  British  eloquence  ;  of  ancient  and  modern  speaking, 
297 — of  American  and  British  law-reporters,  302— English  crown 
lawyers  and  New- York  lawyers,  303. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

OJV  THE  LITERATURE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

"  The  United  States  and  England,"  304— Mr.  Southey  ;  Editors 
of  the  Edinburgh  and  Quarterly  Reviews,  305 — United  States  under- 
rated in  Europe,  306 — Franklin's  refutation  of  the  French  theory, 
307 — causes  of  the  United  States  literature  being  defective,  308 — 
no  want  of  American  genius,  309 — general  course  of  readers  and 
writers  in  the  United  States,  310 — too  early  practical  life  in  the 
United  States,  313 — periodical  publications,  314 — perpetual  change, 
315 — necessity  of  an  original  Review  in  the  United  States,  316 — 
elementary  education  in  the  United  States  ;  in  Britain,  319 — saying 
of  George  the  Third,  ibid — Greeks  and  Trojans  in  the  United  States, 


xiv  TABLE  OF  CONTESTS. 

320 — importance  of  universal  education,  ibid — liberal  education  de- 
fective in  the  United  States,  321— grammar-schools,  322 — grammar 
decried  in  the  United  States,  323 — its  defence,  324— colleges  in  the 
United  States,  327 — want  of  Lectures  in  the  United  States,  328— 
education  injured  by  clerical  monopoly,  329 — elocution  in  the  Uni- 
ted States  vitious  and  nasal,  331 — pronunciation  of  English,  Greek, 
and  Latin  tongues,  336 — -formal  dulness  a  bad  qualification  for  a  pro- 
fessor, 339 — importance  of  enthusiasm  in  a  teacher,  340 — outline 
of  Lectures  on  Belles  Lettres  and  Rhetoric,  and  on  Moral  Philoso 
ph}',  341 — gradational  studies,  metaphysics,  mathematics,  physics, 
classics,  343 — outline  of  liberal  education  in  England,  345 — in  Scot- 
land, 347 — importance  of  composition  in  prose  and  verse,  349 — 
neglect  of  general  literature  in  United  States  professions,  350 — its 
importance  to  all  professional  men,  351 — prosody  universally  mur- 
dered in  the  United  States,  352 — United  States  writers,  353 — histo- 
ry, 354— novels,  ibid — poetry,  355 — Marshal's  Washington,  356 — 
periodical  works,  357 — M'Fingal,  358 — Mr.  Wirt ;  Fisher  Ames, 
359— Colden's  Fulton,  360— Mr.  Walsh,  361— medical  science  in 
the  United  States,  363 — Fine  Arts,  364 — remedies  proposed  for 
literary  deficiencies  of  the  United  States,  365 — learned  societies  in 
the  United  States,  367 — Governor  Clinton,  368 — importance  of  a 
National  University  in  the  United  States,  369— female  education  in 
the  United  States,  371— Mr.  Griscom,  ibid— Miss  H.  More,  372. 

CHAPTER   VII. 

(XV  THE  HABITS,  MANNERS,  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

General  ignorance  offoreigners,  particularly  the  British,  respect- 
ing the  character  of  the  United  States,  374. — causes  of  that  igno- 
rance, 375 — M.  Talleyrand's  notions  of  the  American  character, 
ibid. — national  gratitude,  what.  376 — basis  of  the  United  States 
character,  377— identity  of  language,  378— United  States  national 
loyalty,  380—  M.  Talleyrand  mistaken  as  to  the  American  character, 
381— course  of  colonial  settlements,  384— United  States;  h  ow  set- 
tled and  peopled,  385 — foreign  emigrations  to  the  United  States  ; 
Irish  colony  ;  French  establishment,  387— slaves,  their  number  and 
effect  in  the  United  States,  388— religion  the  basis  of  all  national 
character,  and  gague  of  all  national  prosperity,  392— serious  chasms 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  XV 

of  religious  ordinances  in  the  United  States,  394 — infidelity  in  the 
United  States,  394 — Virginia  ;  Louisiana,  395 — necessity  of  reli- 
gion to  human  communities,  396 — experiment  of  national  infidelity 
made  in  Europe,  397 — the  three  eras  of  paganism,  superstition,  and 
infidelity,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  their  gradational  effects 
upon  mankind,  398 — infidelity  allied  with  the  revolutionary  ques- 
tion, exemplified  in  France  and  England,  403 — United  States  calm- 
ness in  religion,  405 — Dr.  Priestley,  407 — no  national  church  in  the 
United  States  ;  of  whose  population  one-third  without  any  religious 
ordinances,  408 — evils  of  exclusive  State  religion,  409 — of  tithes, 
410 — spirit  of  the  age  ;  Archbishop  Laud  ;  Lord  Clarendon,  411 — 
prevailing  sects  in  the  United  States  ;  their  church  government,  412 — 
American  clergy,  413 — collegiate  churches,  414 — religion  and 
hypocrisy  are  substance  and  shadow,  ibid. — Sunday  Schools,  Mis- 
sionary and  Bible  Societies  in  the  United  States,  415— study  of  S. 
S.  416 — Owen's  History  of  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  417 
— morals  and  manners  of  the  United  States,  419 — New-England, 
420— Middle  States,  422— Southern  States,  423 — American  women, 
ibid. — slave  population  deteriorates  morals,  424 — caged  slave  in 
Virginia,  425 — Western  States,  426 — Americans  locomotive  and 
migratory,  427 — western  settlers,  428 — general  manners  of  the 
United  States,  430 — physical  activity  and  strength  of  American  po- 
pulation, 433 — their  intellectual  shrewdness,  434 — and  political 
elevation,  ibid. — superior,  an  mass,  to  all  other  people,  435 — United 
States  navy,  ibid — drawbacks  on  United  States  morals  ;  lotteries ; 
State  prisons  ;  insolvent  laws,  436 — poor-laws,  437 — immoderate 
drinking,  ibid. — United  States  people  charitable  ;  munificence  of 
Boston,  438 — pauperism  and  profligacy  of  New- York,  439 — man- 
ners of  the  United  States  ;  M.  Volney's  notion,  443 — the  real  state 
of  the  fact,  444 — general  aspect  of  American  society,  445 — travel- 
ling in  the  United  States,  446 — gradational  cleanliness  in  the  west- 
ern, southern,  middle,  and  eastern  divisions,  448 — universal  use  of 
tobacco,  in  smoking  and  chewing,  in  the  United  States,  450 — United 
States  amusements,  450 — marriages,  451 — efficient  population  of  the 
United  States,  453 — universal  trading  spirit  in  the  United  States, 
455— ho"w  profited  by  British  capital,  in  credit  and  insolvencies, 
ibid. — extravagance  general  in  the  United  States,  456 — Descartes 
and  Dutch  Stadtholder,  457 — no  family  wealth,  458 — nor  social 
subordination  in  children,  scholars,  servants,  459 — national  vanity 


XVI  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

of  the  United  States,  460— means  of  rendering  the  United  States 
the  greatest  nation  in  the  world,  461. 

CONCLUSION. 

PRESENT  STATE  OF  EUROPE. 

Necessity  of  vigorous  administration  of  our  Federal  Government, 
462 — state  of  France,  ibid. — clergy  ;  nobility,  463— representation 
and  revolution,  464 — balance  of  power  deranged,  ibid. — Prussia,  ibid. 
— Austria,  465 — Spain;  her  capacity  and  condition,  466 — her  gene- 
ral ignorance,  467 — governed  by  foreigners,  468 — her  constitution 
of  1812,  469 — return  of  Ferdinand,  ibid. — intrinsic  power  of 
France,  470 — her  centra-indications,  471 — preponderance  of  Russia, 
474 — her  steady  ambition,  476 — her  portentous  progress,  476 — 
Sir  Robert  Wilson,  477 — radical  difference  between  American  and 
European  governments,  ibid. — defects  of  all  free  governments,  478 
— intrinsic  power  of  England,  479 — shattered  by  the  French  revo- 
lution, ibid. — British  Constitution,  480 — United  States  Constitution, 
482 — European  governments  either  military  or  commercial,  483 — 
defects  of  English  administration  ;  home,  foreign,  and  colonial,  484 
— her  employment  of  national  talent,  486 — her  growth  during  the 
last  three  centuries,  488 — duration  of  national  power  and  talent, 
489 — Chatham  ;  Pitt ;  Castlereagh  ;  Canning,  492 — her  present 
condition,  493 — death  of  her  lineal  princess,  495— necessity  of  the 
United  States  to  augment  their  national  strength  and  general  go- 
vernment, 496 — their  recent  destruction  of  internal  revenue,  and 
occupation  of  Amelia  Island,  497 — treasury  documents  for  1817, 
499 — rates  of  pay  to  public  officers  in  the  United  States,  501 — me- 
moranda of  mutation  and  variety,  502 — British  revenue  and  expen- 
diture for  1818,  504 — abolition  of  the  slave  trade  by  Spain  and  Por- 
tugal, 505— war  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  ibid. 


THE 

RESOURCES          ^ 

OF   THE 

UNITED  STATES,  &c. 


INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 


Importance  of  the  United  States  —  Misrepresentations  of 
Travellers,  8Cc. 

A  HE  resources  and  character,  the  present  power,  and 
future  prospects  of  the  United  States,  are  very  imper- 
fectly appreciated  or  understood  by  the  nations  of 
Europe.  Nay,  one  of  the  great  British  critics  has  re- 
cently informed  us  —  that  the  Americans  themselves 
have  not  yet  told  their  own  story  well  ;  nor  sufficiently 
directed  their  mind  towards  fathoming  the  capabilities 
of  their  own  country. 

To  ascertain  and  exhibit  the  resources  of  this  ex- 
tended and  rapidly-rising  empire,  is  worthy  the  atten- 
tion of  every  one  who  feels  a  deep  interest  in  the  well- 
being  of  the  republic.  Indeed,  no  object  can  be  pre- 
sented more  worthy  of  the  contemplation  of  all  the 
nations  of  the  globe,  than  the  growing  capacities  of  a 
commonwealth  which  has  borne  itself,  triumphantly, 
through  two  severe  and  bloody  conflicts,  against  the 
most  fearful  odds  ;  and  run  a  career  of  peace,  unex- 
ampled in  enterprise  and  prosperity  throughout  the 
history  of  the  world. 

Humanly  speaking,  no  circumstances  can  prevent 
these  United  States  from  becoming,  eventuallv.  and  at, 

w   7 


2  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.' 

no  distant  period,  a  great  and  powerful  nation,  in- 
fluencing and  controlling  the  other  sovereignties  of  the 
world ; — seeing  that  they  are  secure  from  the  dread  of 
powerful  neighbours ;  that  they  are  not  composed  of 
detached  and  distant  territories  ;  but  that  one  connect- 
ed, fertile,  wide-spreading  country  is  the  goodly  heri- 
tage of  their  dominion ;  that  they  are  blessed  with  a 
vast  variety  of  soils  and  productions,  and  are  watered 
with  innumerable  streams  for  the  delight  and  accom- 
modation of  their  inhabitants ;  that  a  succession  of  navi- 
gable rivers  forms  an  ocean-chain  around  their  borders, 
to  bind  them  together ;  while  the  most  capacious  wa- 
ters, running  at  convenient  distances,  present  them  with 
so  many  highways  for  the  mutual  transportation  and 
exchange  of  all  their  various  commercial  commodities, 
both  rude  and  manufactured ;  and  also,  for  the  easy 
communication  of  all  friendly  aids,  political  and  mi- 
litary. 

In  addition  to  the  Atlantic  States, — exhibiting  up- 
wards of  two  thousand  miles  of  sea-coast,  with  innume- 
rable bays,  creeks,  rivers,  ports,  and  harbours,  and 
covering  a  surface  of  nearly  one  million  of  square  miles, 
displaying  every  variety  of  soil  and  produce, — a  new 
empire  has  suddenly  sprung  up  within  the  bosom  of 
of  the  union,  like  an  exhalation  from  the  earth  :  I  mean 
that  immense  region  called  the  Western  Country ;  boun  d- 
ed  on  the  north  by  the  great  lakes  Erie,  Huron,  and 
Superior,  and  the  chain  of  waters  between  the  Grand 
Portage  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods ;  on  the  west  by 
the  Rocky  Mountains ;  on  the  south  by  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico;  on  the  east  by  the  Alleghany  Hills;  com- 
prising full  fifteen  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  and 
more  than  fifty  thousand  miles  of  internal  ship  and  boat 
navigation.  It  contains  two  thousand  miles  of  lake  ;  one 
thousand  miles  of  gulf;  and  one  hundred  thousand  miles 
of  river  coast ; — the  whole  country  is  one  continued 
intersection  of  rivers,  communicating  with  each  other. 

These  vast  territorial  domains  are  held  by  a  popula- 
tion, free  as  the  air  they  breathe — a  population,  pow- 
erful in  physical  activity  and  strength;  patient  of  toil, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  ^ 

and  prodigal  of  life ;  brave,  enterprising,  intelligent,  and 
persevering;  presenting,  both  in  body  and  in  mind,  the 
noblest  materials  for  the  formation  of  national  greatness, 
prosperity,  and  influence. 

There  are  many  and  obvious  reasons,  why  the  na- 
tions of  Europe  are  unacquainted  with  the  resources 
and  character  of  the  United  States ;  which  present  in- 
stitutions political  and  social,  altogether  unique,  and 
unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  humankind.  It  is  suffi- 
cient merely  to  mention  one  very  broad  source  of  Eu- 
ropean ignorance,  with  respect  to  this  country;  namely, 
the  opposite,  but  equally  erroneous  views  which  the 
various  travellers  from  Europe  have  given  of  the  Ame- 
rican Republic. — By  far  the  greater  portion  of  these 
writers  have  fallen  into  the  vitious  extreme  of  unbound- 
ed praise,  or  of  indiscriminate  censure. 

Many  persons,  frustrated  in  their  pernicious  hopes 
at  home,  and  sometimes  smarting  from  the  recent 
scourge  ;  men  who  have  been  arraigned  at  the  bar  of 
justice  in  their  own  land,  as  traitors  and  felons,  and 
have  exchanged  the  well- merited  gallows  for  an  igno- 
minious exile,  have  generally  depicted  this  country  as 
the  seat  of  uncontaminated  purity,  and  uninterrupted 
happiness.  If  we  may  believe  the  assertions  of  these 
political  philosophers,  the  soil  every  where  teems  with 
spontaneous  plenty;  the  air  is  balmy  and  fragrant;  the 
soft  delights  of  perpetual  spring  dwell  upon  the  land  ; 
the  form  of  government,  as  it  is  written  down  upon 
paper,  and  appears  in  a  printed  book,  is  the  model  of 
all  human  perfection  ;  the  rulers  are,  of  necessity,  all 
virtue,  wisdom,  and  strength;  and  the  people,  who  elect, 
and  from  the  midst  of  whom  are  elected  these  rulers, 
are,  invariably,  all  incorruptible  in  their  political  in- 
tegrity, pure  in  their  personal  conduct,  simple  and  re- 
fined in  their  social  manners.  Vice  knows  no  habitation 
here ;  and  paradise  is  again  restored  on  earth,  as  it  ex- 
isted, in  all  the  bloom  of  innocence  and  love,  before  the 
fall  of  our  primeval  parents. 

Another  set  of  writers,  either  rankling  under  the  dis- 
appointment of  their  too  sanguine  expectations  of  sue- 


4  RESOURSES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

cess  in  this  country  ;  or,  from  a  very  slight  and  super- 
ficial view  of  what  they  did  not  understand,  and  under 
the  guidance  of  that  self-sufficient  malignity,  which  is 
the  inseparable  concomitant  of  dulness  and  ignorance, 
and  measuring  every  thing  they  saw  here  by  the  habits 
and  manners  of  the  people  in  their  own  country,  and 
resolutely  condemning  whatsoever  differed  from  the 
standard  to  which  they  themselves  had  been  accustom- 
ed ;  without  ever  once  reflecting  upon  the  very  differ- 
ent states  of  society  which  must,  necessarily,  take 
place  in  an  old,  long-established,  and  fully  peopled 
country,  and  in  one  which  labours  under  all  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  national  infancy — a  thin,  and  a  scat- 
tered population  over  an  immense  extent  of  territory, 
the  unfinished  condition  of  its  social  habits,  the  fluctua- 
tion of  its  political  institutions,  the  uncertainty  of  its 
popular  movements — have  taken  upon  themselves  to 
represent  these  United  States  as  cursed  with  a  barren 
and  inhospitable  soil ;  an  ungenial  and  dreary  clime  ; 
a  government,  full  of  weakness,  fraud,  and  violence  ;  a 
people,  made  up  and  compounded  of  the  sweepings  and 
refuse  of  Europe — "  the  taint  of  anarchy,  and  the  blast 
of  crime," — fickle  and  turbulent  in  their  politics,  rude 
and  coarse  in  their  behaviour,  and  steeped  in  all  the 
vulgar  brutality  of  vice  and  faction. 

Gilbert  Imlay,  and  M.  St.  John  de  Crevecceur,  author 
of  "  The  American  Farmer,"  and  of  pretended  "  Tra- 
vels in  Upper  Pennsylvania  and  the  State  of  New-York," 
have  exceedingly  exaggerated  the  excellencies  of  the 
United  States,  by  representing  them  as  the  abode  of 
more  than  all  the  perfection  of  innocence,  happiness, 
plenty,  learning,  and  wisdom,  than  can  be  allotted  to 
human  beings  to  enjoy.  A  far  greater  number  of  wri- 
ters, however,  have  outraged  decency,  by  loading  the 
American  people  with  abuse  and  calumny.  Among 
the  vilest  and  the  silliest  of  these,  are  Parkinson,  an 
English  farmer ;  JJshe,  a  soi-disant  military  officer  j  and 
one  Jansen,  a  non-descript. 

These  writers,  as  appears  from  their  own  confession, 
never  herded  with  any  other  companions  than  the  low- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  0 

er  classes  of  society  in  the  union — such  as  stage-drivers, 
masters  of  sloops,  keepers  of  ale-houses,  low  mechanics, 
retail  tradesmen,  and  labouring  peasants.  It  is  not,  in- 
deed, pretended  by  any  of  the  advocates  of  American 
character  and  claims,  that  among  these  classes  of  the 
community  can  be  discovered  any  very  great  refine- 
ment of  breeding — or  any  very  extensive  information — 
or  any  very  profound  reflection. 

Another  set  of  travellers  in  this  country,  have  come 
hither  with  letters  of  introduction  to  some  very  respect- 
able gentlemen  in  the  United  States;  and,  in  conse- 
quence, have  been  received  into  their  families,  and  the 
families  of  their  friends  and  acquaintance ;  and,  in 
every  instance,  have  been  treated  with  hospitality  and 
kindness.  These  men  have  gone  away  to  Europe,  and 
published  anecdotes  of  private  families,  have  given  to 
the  world  accounts  of  mere  domestic  incidents,  such  as 
could  only  have  been  imparted  in  the  moments  of  un- 
suspecting confidence ;  and  the  relation  of  which  can 
serve  no  other  purpose,  than  to  sadden  the  heart  of 
those  who  have  been  betrayed,  and  stamp,  in  characters 
of  lasting  infamy,  the  baseness  of  the  being  who  could 
thus  drag  into  painful  notice  individuals  wishing  to  pass 
their  lives  in  the  privacy  of  cultivated  retirement,  occa- 
sionally diversified  by  the  more  select  intercourse  of  the 
social  circle. 

On  the  height  of  this  bad  eminence  stand  the  Mar- 
quis  de  Chastilleux,  and  the  Duke  de  la  Rouchefaucault 
JLiancourt,  who  have  repaid  the  kindness  of  American 
hospitality,  by  descanting  on  the  vulgarity  of  American 
manners,  and  by  detailing  to  the  world  occurrences  and 
conversations  which  they  could  never  have  known,  had 
they  not,  unfortunately,  been  mistaken  for  gentlemen 
by  those  whose  civilities  and  confidence  they  thus 
abused.  But,  surely,  private  individuals,  who  do  not 
obtrude  themselves  upon  the  public,  but  rather  shun 
the  eve  of  vulgar  observation,  are  not  fit  subjects  for  a 
traveller's  merriment,  or  satire.  In  a  world,  bursting 
with  vice  and  folly,  there  are  always  knaves  and  cox- 
combs, in  sufficient  number,  to  exhaust  all  the  powers 


Q  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  ridicule  and  invective ;  and  these  are  the  only  legiti- 
mate objects,  against  which  the  laugh  of  the  wit,  and 
the  declamation  of  the  moralist,  ought  to  be  directed. 

The  well-known  poet,  Mr.  Thomas  Moore,  when 
quite  a  young  man,  published  a  book,  made  up  of  prose 
and  verse,  in  which  he,  very  unmercifully,  abused  and 
misrepresented  the  people  of  this  country.  Some  little 
time  since,  however,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  John 
E.  Hall,  the  editor  of  the  Port-Folio,  in  Philadelphia, 
in  which  he  expresses  his  deep  repentance  for  having 
slandered  America,  and  swings  into  the  opposite  ex- 
treme of  unmeasured  praise,  representing  it,  now,  as 
the  only  land  where  freedom,  and  happiness,  and  so 
forth,  are  to  be  found. 

It  would,  indeed,  be  superfluous  to  descant  upon  the 
credulity  of  Mr.  Weld,  who,  in  enumerating  the  peril- 
ous wild  beasts  of  this  country,  gravely  asserts,  and,  as 
he  says,  upon  the  authority  of  General  Washington, 
that  the  moschetto  of  the  United  States  is  so  terrible  in 
its  attacks  as  to  bite  through  the  thickest  boot.  Now, 
the  moschetto,  which  is  a  species  of  gnat,  is  no  more 
troublesome  or  offensive  here,  than  the  gnats  are  in  the 
fens  of  Lincolnshire,  or  the  lowlands  ot  Essex,  in  Fng- 
land.  Besides,  General  Washington  merely  told  Mr. 
Weld,  that  the  moschetto  will  bite  through  the  thickest 
stocking,  above  the  boot-top,  when  there  is  any  space 
between  the  boot  and  the  knee-band.  But  Mr.  Weld 
has  substituted  the  word  boot  for  stocking ;  and  thus, 
very  reasonably  alarmed  all  cautious  people  with  a  tale 
of  terror,  respecting  the  dreadful  ravages  of  the  mos- 
chetto tribe  of  North  America,  upon  the  human  body. 

Still  more  insufferable  would  it  be  to  dwell  upon  the 
meagre,  miserable  trash,  that  is  occasionally  foisted  in- 
to the  Monthly  Magazine,  of  London,  under  the  signa- 
ture of  a  little  obstetrical  Quixote,  at  Alexandria,  in  the 
District  of  Columbia;  and,  by  a  singular  misnomer, 
called  "  Information  as  to  the  United  States." 

But  the  character  of  M.  Brissot  de  Warville,  the  lead- 
er of  the  Gironde  revolutionary  faction  in  France,  is 
too  notorious  to  permit  his  observations  on  the  United 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  7 

States  to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  In  a  printed  book 
of  his,  on  the  commerce  of  this  country,  he  very  pro- 
fusely praises  the  Americans,  and  calls  himself  a  Qua- 
ker. Brissot  had  led  a  very  wandering  life,  and  had 
written  an  incredible  number  of  books  on  politics — 
none  of  which  were  over-wise.  He  had  been  a  subal- 
tern in  the  police,  under  the  old  French  monarchy,  and 
had  been  sent  to  London  on  some  service,  in  the  line 
of  his  vocation,  by  the  lieutenant  of  police  in  Paris. 
The  revolution  in  France,  of  course,  raised  him  to  the 
level  of  his  merit,  and  he  became  the  doer  of  a  news- 
paper— an  office  of  high  importance  in  all  revolutionary 
societies.  He  was,  however,  a  better  disorganizer  than 
philosopher :  for,  in  a  manuscript  volume  of  his,  now,  or 
lately  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  hands  of  some 
elderly  Friends,  or  Quakers,  to  whom  he  sent  it  for  the 
express  purpose  of  being  published  in  this  country,  (a 
step  which  his  more  prudent  correspondents  declined,) 
he  solemnly  maintains  that  the  character  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  can  always  be  known,  infallibly,  by  the 
course  of  the  rivers  throughout  the  union. 

For  instance,  says  this  profound  observer  of  men  and 
things,  when  he  illustrates  this  notable  proposition,  "  in 
the  Northern  and  Eastern  States,  the  rivers  are  violent 
and  irregular  in  their  progress,  and  so  is  the  character  of 
the  inhabitants  of  these  States." — Alas  !  for  the  people 
of  New  England,  who  have  always,  hitherto,  been 
deemed  the  most  sober,  orderly,  steady,  and  persevering 
in  their  habits  and  manners,  of  all  the  Americans!  "In 
the  Middle  States,"  continues  Brissot,  "  the  rivers  are 
strong  and  majestic,  and  so  are  the  people.  In  the 
Southern  departments,  as  Virginia,  the  two  Carolinas, 
and  Georgia,  the  rivers  are  muddy,  slow,  ebbing  and 
flowing  capriciously ;  and,  accordingly,  the  people  of 
these  States  are  dull,  stagnant,  and  fickle." 

This  consolatory  mode  of  determining  the  national 
character  of  a  people  was  never  equalled,  but  once,  in 
the  annals  of  philosophism.  An  obscure  madman, 
called  William  Gilbert,  in  the  year  1797,  published,  in 
London,  a  poem,  entitled  "The  Hurricane,  a  theoso- 


8 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


phical  and  western  eclogue;  to  which  is  subjoined,  a 
solitary  effusion  in  a  summer's  evening."  In  the  JNotes, 
appended  to  this  solitary  effusion,  Mr.  Gilbert  assures 
us,  (I  quote  his  own  words,)  "  First — that  all  countries 
have  a  specific  mind,  or  determinate  principle.  This 
character  may  be  traced,  with  as  much  satisfaction,  in 
the  vegetable,  as  in  the  animal  productions.  Thus, 
strength,  with  its  attributes,  namely,  asperity,  &c.  is 
the  character,  or  mind  of  England.  Her  leading  pro- 
ductions are  the  oak,  peppermint,  sloes,  crabs,  and  sour 
cherries.  All  elegance,  all  polish  is  superinduced ;  and 
primarily,  from  France,  of  which  they  [Query,  who  ?] 
are  natives.  Secondly — that  a  country  is  subdued  when 
its  mind,  or  life,  (its  prince,  according  to  Daniel,)  or  its 
genius,  according  to  the  modern  easterns,  or  its  princi- 
ple, according  to  Europeans,  is  either  suppressed,  or 
destroyed,  or  chymically  combined  with  that  of  a  foreign 
country,  in  a  form  that  leaves  the  foreign  property  pre- 
dominant, and  not  till  then.  And  this  cannot  ensue  but 
upon  suicide,  upon  a  previous  abandonment,  on  the  part 
of  a  nation,  of  its  own  principle.  For,  when  the  Crea- 
tor made  every  thing  very  good,  he  also  made  it  tena- 
ble on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  complete ;  conse- 
quently, without  the  necessity,  without  the  desire  of  en- 
croaching; and  also  without  the  capability,  except 
under  the  penalty  of  surrendering,  with  its  own  complete 
roundness,  its  own  tenability." 

"  Thus,"  continues  Mr.  Gilbert,  "  I  arrive  at  a  pri- 
mary law  of  nature,  that  every  one  must  fall  into  the 
pit  that  he  digs  for  others,  either  before,  or  after,  or 
without  success.  Thirdly — that  in  the  European  subju- 
gation of  America,  the  American  mind,  or  life,  only 
suffered  under  a  powerful  affusion  of  the  European; 
and  that,  as  the  solution  proceeds,  it  acquires  a  stronger 
and  stronger  tincture  of  the  subject,  till,  at  length,  that 
which  was  first  subdued,  assumes  an  absolute,  unexpug- 
nable  predominancy,  and  a  final ;  inasmuch  as  the  con- 
test is  between  the  two  last  parts  of  the  world,  and  there 
is  no  prospective  umpire  to  refer  to ;  but  it  must  be 
decided  by  the  possession  of  first  principles,  or  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  9 

highest  mind  in  the  hierarchy  of  minds ;  and  the  .Ew- 
rojjean  possession  of  mind,  having  previously  arrived  at 
perfection,  from  her  long  intercourse  with  Africa  and 
Asia ;  and  not  being  able  to  rescue  her  from  the  pre- 
sent grasp  and  predominancy  of  American  mind,  the 
question  is  now  settled  for  ever,  and  Europe  yields  to 
the  influence,  mind,  and  power  of  America,  linked  in  es- 
sential principle  with  Africa  and  Asia  for  ever.  Besides, 
Europe  had  full  success  in  her  encroachments ;  she 
succeeded  in  throwing  America  into  the  pit;  and,  of 
course,  it  must  be  her  own  turn  to  go  in  now ;  she  de- 
populated America,  and,  now,  America  must  depopu- 
late her."-— Q.  E.  D. 

It  would  be  unjust,  not  to  recommend  the  work  of 
JW.  Beaujour,  late  Consul  from  France,  residing  at  Phi- 
ladelphia ;  his  view  of  the  commerce,  policy,  finances, 
agriculture,  manners,  and  habits  of  the  United  States, 
is  written  with  great  spirit  and  intelligence ;  and  cannot 
fail  to  repay  an  attentive  perusal,  with  a  rich  harvest  of 
instruction  and  amusement. 

To  which  may  be  added  M.  de  Marbois's  preliminary 
discourse  to  his  account  of  Arnold's  conspiracy,  where 
the  United  States,  their  institutions,  and  people,  are 
spoken  of  in  terms  of  high  eulogy,  and  ardent  admira- 
tion. For  a  splendid  and  interesting  account,  and  an 
excellent  translation  of  this  work,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  the  second  volume  of  Mr.  Walsh's  American  Regis- 
ter. Mr.  Volney's  "  View  of  the  soil  and  climate  of  the 
United  States  of  America,"  and  Mr.  Schultz's  "  Travels 
on  an  inland  voyage  through  the  States  of  New- York, 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Ohio,  &c,"  may  also  be  con- 
sulted with  pleasure  and  profit. 

Much  useful  information,  conveyed  in  a  plain,  unos- 
tentatious style,  may  likewise  be  derived  from  Mr. 
Mellish's  "  Travels  through  the  United  States,  in  the 
years  1806,  1807,  1809,  1810,  and  1811;"  a  work, 
which  is  particularly  valuable  for  its  account  of  the 
Western  States,  and  for  the  candour  with  which  it 
treats,  generally,  of  the  country,  its  people,  institutions, 
habits,  and  manners.  The  reader  will  also  find 

2 


JQ  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

"  Travels  in  the  Interior  of  the  United  States,"  by  Johtt 
Bradbury,  F.L.S.,  an  entertaining  and  instructive  book. 
Mr.  Morris  Birkbeck's  "  Notes  of  a  Journey  in  Ame- 
rica, from  the  coast  of  Virginia  to  the  Territory  of  Illi- 
nois," with  the  exception  of  some  Jacobin  slang  against 
England  and  her  institutions,  will  be  found  a  valuable 
and  interesting  little  work. 

Let  it  not  be  imagined,  that  I  seek,  by  thus  censuring 
many  of  the  writers  who  have  treated  of  this  country, 
to  recommend  to  the  notice  of  the  reader  the  opinions 
contained  in  the  present  work.  It  is  merely  desired  to 
state  the  simple  fact — that  the  people  of  this  country 
have  been  grossly  misrepresented ;  and  some  publica- 
tions have  been  referred  to,  as  proving  the  correctness 
of  this  statement.  The  chief  intention  of  the  following 
pages  is  to  show,  that  the  truth,  as  is  generally  the 
case  in  all  human  opinions  and  transactions,  lies  be- 
tween the  two  extremes,  which  have  been  chosen  by 
the  calumniators  and  panegyrists  of  the  United  States ; 
that  this  country  is  neither  the  garden  of  Eden,  nor  the 
valley  of  Tophet;  that  the  Americans  themselves  are 
neither  angels  nor  fiends;  but  human  beings,  clothed 
with  flesh  and  blood,  possessing  the  appetites  and  pas- 
sions, the  powers  and  frailties  of  mortality ;  and  greatly 
influenced  in  their  feelings,  sentiments,  and  conduct,  by 
the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  they  are  placed. 
It  is  wished,  "  nothing  extenuating,  nor  setting  down 
aught  in  malice,"  to  give  a  faithful  portrait,  a  living 
likeness  of  the  habits  and  condition  01  an  enterprising, 
intelligent,  spirited,  aspiring  people,  that  must  be,  ere 
long,  and  that  ought,  before  this  period,  to  have  been, 
better  known,  and  more  justly  appreciated  by  the  po- 
tentates and  nations  of  Europe. 


CHAPTER  I. 

On    the  Aspect,    Agriculture,   Population,    &c.    of  the 
United  States. 

AT  is  not  intended,  in  the  following  pages,  to  give  a 
minute  detail  of  the  agriculture,  commerce,  finances, 
politics,  religion,  education,  literature,  habits,  and  man- 
ners of  the  United  States ;  but  merely  to  present  a  brief 
outline  of  their  resources  and  character,  such  as  they 
appear,  from  an  inspection  and  examination  during 
several  years.  The  reader,  who  wishes  for  more  am- 
ple information  upon  the  statistics  of  this  country,  is 
referred  to  the  second  edition  of  Mr.  Pitkin*s  very  va- 
luable work,  entitled  "  A  statistical  View  of  the  Com- 
merce of  the  United  States  of  America ;  its  connexion 
with  Agriculture  and  Manufactures,"  &c.  giving  an  ac- 
count of  the  public  debt,  revenues,  and  expenditure  of 
the  United  States,  &c.  to  Mr.  Tench  Coxe^s  "  View  of 
the  United  States  of  America,"  exhibiting  the  progress 
and  present  state  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  popula- 
tion, agriculture,  exports,  imports,  fisheries,  navigation^ 
ship-building,  manufactures,  and  general  improvements ; 
to  Mr.  Bloagefs  "  Economica,  a  Statistical  Manual  for 
the  United  States  of  America;"  to  Mr.  Jefferson's 
"  Notes  on  Virginia,"  in  answer  to  certain  questions 
proposed  by  M.  Barbe  de  Marbois;  to  the  "  Western 
Gazetteer,  or  Emigrant's  Directory,"  containing  a  geo- 
graphical description  of  the  Western  States  and  Terri- 
tories, including  the  States  of  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Lou- 
isiana, Ohio,  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi,  and  the  Terri- 
tories of  Illinois,  Missouri,  Alabama,  Michigan,  and 
Northwestern ;  out  of  which  may  be  carved,  at  least 


J2  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

twelve  new  states,  each  as  large  as  the  United  Kingdom 
of  Great-Britain  and  Ireland.  And,  finally,  the  reader 
may  consult  Dr.  Morse's  "  American  Universal  Geo- 
graphy," which  contains  much  valuable  information,  re- 
specting the  United  States  generally,  and  each  separate 
state  in  particular. 

The  United  States  possess  prodigious  physical  capa- 
bilities of  wealth  and  greatness,  in  a  home  territory, 
spread  out  to  an  enormous  extent,  and  fertile  in  most  of 
tnose  productions  which  minister  to  the  necessities  and 
gratifications  of  man ;  in  navigable  rivers,  capacious  and 
convenient  ports,  and  the  Atlantic  main,  which  connects 
them  with  the  other  portions  of  the  world.  All  these 
advantages  brought  into  exercise,  by  the  spirit  and  per- 
severance of  an  intelligent  and  enterprising  people,  af- 
ford the  means  and  facilities  of  acquiring  ample  power, 
and  permanent  strength.  Indeed,  the  whole  aspect  of 
Nature  here,  in  America,  has  a  direct  tendency  to  en- 
large and  elevate  the  mind  of  the  sensible  and  refined 
spectator.  Little  are  the  feelings  of  that  being  to  be 
envied,  whose  heart  does  not  swell  with  sublime  emo- 
tions, when  he  sees  with  what  a  bold  and  magnificent 
profusion  the  living  God  has  scattered  the  great  works 
of  his  creation  in  this  quarter  of  the  globe ;  on  how  vast 
and  awful  a  scale  of  grandeur  He  has  piled  up  the 
mountains,  spread  out  the  valleys,  planted  the  forests, 
and  poured  forth  the  floods. 

Some  political  writers  and  moral  philosophers  have 
asserted,  that  assemblages  of  the  grander  objects  of 
nature  tend  directly  to  elevate  the  minds  of  those  who 
live  in  their  vicinity ;  and  to  give  them  a  magnanimity 
of  thought  and  action,  which  we  look  for,  in  vain,  from 
the  inhabitants  of  less  favoured  regions.  And  the 
elevation  of  mind,  which  is  supposed  to  characterize 
the  Scottish  Highlander  and  the  peasant  of  Switzer- 
land, is  referred  to  the  effect  produced  by  the  sublime 
scenery,  which  the  rugged  mountains,  the  winding 
streams,  the  sunken  glens,  and  the  roaring  torrents  of 
their  respective  countries  continually  offer  to  their  per- 
ception and  contemplation.  This  position,  however, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  j$ 

ought  to  be  restricted  in  its  application,  and  considered 
as  relating  only  to  those  who  are  endowed  with  (juick 
perceptions  and  acute  feelings.  For  all  experience 
proves,  that  upon  ordinary  minds,  upon  the  great  and 
grosser  mass  of  human  animals,  no  such  exalting  effect 
is  produced,  by  the  contemplation  of  nature  in  any  of 
her  visible  forms,  either  of  magnificence  or  beauty. 

The  great  majority  of  mankind,  either  employed  in 
providing  for  the  necessities  of  the  passing  day,  or  in- 
tent upon  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  or  engaged  in  adminis- 
tering to  the  gratification  of  the  grosser  senses,  have 
neither  the  inclination  nor  the  ability  to  derive  pleasure 
from  surveying  the  calm  or  the  agitated  ocean ;  or  from 
observing  the|various  beauties  of  nature  that  adorn  the 
fair  face  of  thfe  earth.  All  that  the  sea  can  present  of 
value  or  delight  to  them,  is  contained  in  her  depths,  or 
wafted  on  her  bosom,  in  the  shape  of  marketable  com- 
modities; and  all  of  satisfaction  or  comfort,  that  they  can 
derive  from  the  earth,  is  either  pent  up  within  her  bow- 
els, in  the  form  of  the  more  precious  minerals  or  metals, 
or  appears  upon  her  surface,  in  all  the  variety  of  those 
animal  and  vegetable  productions  that  can  be  converted 
into  nutriment  or  profit.  Much  stress,  therefore,  is  not 
to  be  laid  upon  the  grand  disposition  of  natural  scenery 
in  the  United  States,  as  regulating  or  affecting  the  mo- 
ral and  political  character  of  the  American  people. 

President  Montesquieu,  and  other  political  philoso- 
phers, (besides  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  and  Mr.  Gil- 
bert,) do,  indeed,  attribute  much  of  national  character 
to  physical  circumstances,  as  scenery,  soil,  climate,  &c. 
But  the  physical  circumstances  of  Greece  and  Rome 
are  the  same  now,  as  in  the  days  of  Pericles  and  Plato, 
of  Caesar  and  Cicero.  Yet  how  different  now  are 
the  Men  of  Athens  and  Rome — quantum  mutatus  ab 
illo  Hectare  !  Such  is  the  quickening  power  of  liberty, 
not  only  to  render  man,  individually,  great  and  power- 
ful, but  also,  to  render  hie  country,  for  its  allotted 
hour,  lord  of  the  ascendant  over  other  nations ;  while 
despotism  debases  the  individual  citizens  into  slaves,  and 
makes  their  country  the  vassal  of  vassals.  Witness 


14 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.' 


Greece,  once  the  pride  and  terror  of  the  world,  now  a 
bondwoman  to  the  ignorant  and  barbarous  Turk; — 
witness  Rome,  once  mistress  of  the  earth,  now,  the 
miserable  asylum  of  a  cumbrous  superstition,  decaying 
even  to  the  last  faint  gleam  of  extinction. 

Prior  to  the  reign  of  the  Imperial  Charles  the  fifth, 
Spain  was  the  freest  nation  in  Europe ;  the  power  of 
her  kings  was  guardedly  limited ;  all  orders  were  ad- 
mitted to  an  equal  representation  in  the  diet ;  she  main- 
tained an  entire  independence  on  the  Roman  Church ; 
she  engaged  and  excelled  in  every  walk  of  literature, 
science,  and  erudition;  she  influenced  and  controlled 
every  other  European  sovereignty.  Now,  she  is  the 
forlorn  and  abject  slave  of  papal  superstition,  the  vic- 
tim of  the  inquisition — dark,  ignorant,  helpless — a  prey 
to  the  most  despicable  civil  and  religious  bondage. 
Yet  the  plains  of  Castile  and  Arragon  snow  as  wide  a 
champaign,  and  the  range  of  the  Pyrenees,  the  chain  of 
the  Sierra  Morena,  and  the  mountains  of  the  Asturias, 
lift  their  heads  as  proudly  to  the  skies,  now  in  the 
darkest  hour  of  Spanish  thraldrom  and  degradation,  as 
in  her  brightest  day  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  chi- 
valric  heroism,  and  mental  illumination.  The  character 
of  nations,  therefore,  is  formed,  not  by  physical,  but  by 
moral  causes  and  influences,  as  government,  religion, 
laws,  and  education — which  will,  hereafter,  be  shown 
at  length. 

O 

The  United  States  are  situated  between  25°  50'  and 
and  49°  11'  north  latitude,  and  between  10C  east  and 
48°  20'  west  longitude  from  Washington.  The  most 
northern  part  is  bounded  by  a  line,  running  due  west 
from  the  northwest  corner  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
and  the  southern  extremity  is  the  outlet  of  the  Rio  del 
Norte.  The  eastern  extremity  is  the  Great  Menan 
Island,  on  the  coast  of  Maine,  and  the  western  ex- 
tremity is  Cape  Flattery,  north  of  Columbia  River,  on 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  Their  greatest  extent  from  north 
to  south  is  1,700  miles,  and  from  east  to  west  2,700. 
Their  surface  covers  more  than  2,500,000  square  miles, 
er  1,600.000.000  acres;  and  their  population  is  ten 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  j£ 

millions,  or  about  four  persons  to  every  square  mile. 
The  following  table  shows  the  population  and  surface 
of  some  of  the  most  important  parts  of  the  world; 
namely,  in  round  numbers,  which  is  sufficient  for  our 
present  purpose,  to  point  out  the  proportion  of  territory 
and  people  between  the  United  States  and  other  so- 
vereignties. 


States  in  1817. 

Population. 

Square  Miles. 

All  Russia  

52,000,000 

3,650,000 

Italy  

20,000,000 

100,000 

France                

29,000,000 

250,000 

Austria  .  

26,000,000 

280,000 

Turkey          ...        

57,000,000 

940,000 

British  Isles  

20,000,000 

100,000 

Spain   ._  

14,000,000 

150,000 

Prussia     .             

11,000,000 

96,000 

Sweden  and  Norway  
Denmark  

4,500,000 
800,000 

270,000 
60,000 

United  Netherlands  
Switzerland      

6,000,000 
2,200,000 

47,000 
16,000 

Portugal  

2,300,000 

28,000 

China  

200,000,000 

1,200,000 

United  States  N.  America.. 

10,000,000 

2,500,000 

Total  

435,800,000 

9,687,000 

So  that  the  United  States  have  the  largest  home  ter- 
ritory of  all  the  nations  in  the  world,  except  Russia ; 
and  their  population  is  gaining  fast  upon  that  of  all  the 
European  powers.  China  is  laid  out  of  the  question, 
because  she  is  barbarous,  helpless,  and  effete;  she  can 
never  contend  for  the  sovereignty  or  controlling  in- 
fluence of  the  world;  that  question  must  be  decided 
hereafter,  between  America  and  the  first-rate  poten- 
tates of  Europe.  Britain  possesses  a  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  subjects  in  her  colonial  empire,  and  covers  a 


16 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


dominion  equal  to  nearly  one-fifth  of  the  whole  surface 
of  the  globe ;  but  her  main  strength  must  always  de- 
pend upon  the  resources,  intelligence,  spirit,  and  cha- 
racter of  her  native  population  in  the  British  Isles.  If 
these  fail,  her  colonial  empire  will  be  soon  dissipated 
into  thin  air.  The  following  table  shows  the  gross 
population  and  surface  of  the  four  quarters  of  the  world. 


Quarters  of  the  World. 

Population. 

Square  Miles. 

All  Asia  

600,000,000 

11,000,000 

Africa  

150,000,000 

9,000,000 

Europe.  . 

200,000,000 

2,700,000 

.       *. 
America  

40,000,000 

18,000,000 

Total.  

990,000,000 

40,700,000 

The  following  tables  show  how  fast  the  people  in- 
crease in  an  extensive  country,  under  the  auspices  of 
free  and  popular  institutions.  In  the  year  1749,  the 
whole  white  population  of  the  North  American  colonies, 
now  the  United  States,  amounted  only  to  1,046,000 
souls,  in  the  following  proportions,  as  to  the  respective 
colonies,  now  states  : 

New-Hampshire  30,000  t 

Massachusetts 220,000 

Rhode-Island  35,000 

Connecticut 100,000 

New-York 100,000 

New-Jersey 60,000 

Pennsylvania  and  Delaware 250,000 

Maryland 85,000 

Virginia 85,000 

North-Carolina  45,000 

Georgia  _. ... ,...      6,000 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


17 


POPULATION. 

States. 

Square 
Miles. 

1790. 

1800. 

1817. 

Vermont  

10,000 
9,800 
31,750 
8,500 
1,700 
4,500 
54,000 
6,500 
48,700 
1,800 
14,000 
75,000 
52,000 
49,000 
32,700 
64,000 

85,539 
141,885 
96,540 
378,787 
68,825 
237,946 
340,120 
184,139 
434,373 
59,094 
319,728 
747,610 
73,677 
393,751 
240,073 
82,548 
35,691 

154,465 
183,858 
151,719 
422,845 
69,122 
251,092 
586,050 
211,149 
602,545 
64,273 
349,69fc 
886,149 
220,959 
478,105 
345,591 
162,685 
45,365 
14,093 
105,602 

296,450 
302,733 
318,647 
564,392 
08,721 
349,568 
1,486,739 
345,822 
986,494 
108,334 
502,710 
1,347,496 
683,753 
701,224 
564,785 
408,567 

New-Hampshire  

Maine                )  

Massachusetts  $  

Rhode-Island  

Connecticut  

New-  York  

New-Jersey  

Kentucky    5    

North  Carolina  

South  Carolina  

Georgia  

Western  Territories.. 
District  of  Columbia.. 
Tennesse 

100 
63,000 
45,000 
49,000 
38,000 
55,000 
66,000 
47,500 
1,987,000 

37,892 
"489,624 
394,752 
108,923 
86,734 
104,550 
39,000 
9,743 
68,794 

Ohio 

5,641 

Illinois  Territory  

Total  

2,814,550 

3,929,326 

5,303,666 

10,405,547 

What  the  national  capacities  of  the  State  of  New- 
York  are,  may  be  inferred,  not  only  from  her  territo- 
rial extent,  which  is  ten  thousand  square  miles  larger 
than  all  England  and  Wales  taken  together,  but  also 
from  the  fact,  that  she  has  already,  in  1817,  outstripped 
every  other  State  in  the  Union,  in  the  number  of  her 
population ;  although,  at  the  close  of  the  revolutionary 
war,  in  1783,  she  did  not  contain  half  the  number  of 
souls  which  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  Virginia  respectively  possessed.  The 

3 


l#  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED STATES. 

following  facts  will  show  how  rapid  has  been  the 
growth  of  some  particular  places  in  the  United  States. 
in  the  year  1783,  the  population  of  the  city  of  New- 
York  -was  only  26,000;  in  the  year  1790,  33,000;  in 
1800,  60,439;  in  1810,  93,914;  in  1817,  122,000— 
thus  multiplying  four  times  in  thirty-four  years.  Its 
harbour,  formed  by  the  union  of  the  Hudson  with  the 
strait  of  the  Sound,  called  East  river,  makes  ar  road- 
stead capable  of  containing  all  the  navies  of  the  world. 
Its  commerce  far  surpasses  that  of  any  other  city  in  the 
Union,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  will  be  second 
only  to  that  of  London.  It  imports  most  of  the  goods 
consumed  between  the  Raritan  and  the  Connecticut,  a 
coast  of  130  miles,  and  between  the  Atlantic  ocean  and 
the  lakes,  a  range  of  400  miles.  In  the  year  1816,  the 
foreign  imports  into  the  city  exceeded  fifty-six  millions 
of  dollars. 

Fifty  years  since,  no  such  place  as  Baltimore  existed  ; 
and  now  it  is  a  city,  abounding  in  commerce,  wealth, 
and  splendour,  and  contains  a  population  of  nearly  sixty 
thousand  souls. 

In  the  year  1770,  there  was  not  a  single  white  inha- 
bitant in  all  Kentucky;  in  1790,  there  were  73,677 
souls;  in  1800,  220,960;  and  now,  in  1817,  nearly 
700,000.  In  1783,  the  city  of  New-Orleans  was  in- 
habited by  a  few  miserable  Spaniards,  who  carried  on  a 
small  smuggling  trade.  Now,  in  1817,  it  numbers  nearly 
40,000  inhabitants ;  and  its  exports,  during  the  last 
year,  exceeded  those  of  all  the  New-England  States 
taken  together;  the  steam-boats  have  been  found  able 
to  stem  the  current  of  the  Mississippi;  and,  hence- 
forth, the  struggle  to  engross  the  foreign  trade  of  the 
whole  western  country  will  be  between  New-Orleans, 
New-York,  Montreal,  and  Philadelphia.  The  diffi- 
culty of  ascending  the  Mississippi,  had,  until  the  experi- 
ment of  the  steam-boats,  prevented  New-Orleans  from 
supplying  the  western  States  with  foreign  merchandise, 
whicn  was  purchased  cheaper  in  New-York  or  Phila- 
delphia, and  carried  by  land  to  Pittsburgh,  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Monongahela  and  Alleghany  rivers,  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  j  9 

thence  down  the  Ohio,  to  the  various  settlements  on 
its  banks,  than  it  could  be  transported  up  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Ohio.  The  chief  part  of  this  immense 
and  rapidly  augmenting  commerce  will  fall,  of  course, 
to  that  place  which  can  supply  foreign  goods  at  the 
lowest  rate ;  the  difference  of  price  depending  chiefly 
on  the  expense  of  internal  transportation.  At  present, 
Montreal  seems  to  have  the  advantage  over  her  rivals. 
The  single  portage,  at  the  falls  of  Niagara  excepted, 
there  is  a  free  navigation  for  vessels  from  Montreal  to 
Lake  Erie,  and  the  vast  extent  of  waters  beyond.  Un- 
less, indeed,  the  canal,  to  be  opened  between  Lake  Erie 
and  the  Hudson,  may  succeed  in  diverting  the  trade  of 
the  western  country  from  Montreal  to  New-York. 

The  population  of  New-Orleans  is  rapidly  increasing 
by  emigrations  from  all  the  other.  States  in  the  Union, 
and  from  almost  every  country  in  Europe.  The  exports 
of  Louisiana  already  exceed  those  of  all  the  New- 
England  States.  Nearly  four  hundred  sea  vessels  ar- 
rive and  depart  annually.  And  about  one  thousand 
vessels,  of  all  denominations,  departed  during  the  year 
1816,  from  the  Bayou  St.  John,  a  port  of  delivery  in 
the  Mississippi  district,  and  were  employed  in  carrying 
the  produce  of  the  Floridas,  belonging  to  the  United 
States.  Six  hundred  flat-bottomed  boats  and  three 
hundred  barges  brought  down,  last  year,  to  New-Or- 
leans, produce  from  the  Western  States  and  Territo- 
ries. Ten  millions  of  pounds  of  sugar  are  made  on  the 
Mississippi  alone.  And  twenty  thousand  bales  of  cot- 
ton are  exported  annually. 

If  the  population  of  the  United  States  v  shall  increase 
for  the  next  twenty-five  years,  in  the  same  ratio  that  it 
has  increased  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  what 
European  country,  single-handed,  will  be  able  to  com- 
pete with  them,  on  the  land  or  on  the  ocean  ;  or  what 
European  power  will  be  able  to  preserve  its  American 
colonies,  whether  in  the  West-Indies  or  on  the  conti- 
nent, from  their  grasp?  And  why  the  population 
should  not  increase  as  rapidly,  in  time  to  come,  as  in 
the  past  periods,  it  is  difficult  to  prove ;  for  the  extent 


20 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


of  fertile  territory,  yet  uncleared,  is  immense  ;  and  any 
one,  in  any  vocation,  manual  or  mechanical,  may,  by 
honest  industry  and  ordinary  prudence,  acquire  an  in- 
dependent provision  for  himself  and  family;  so  high  are 
the  wages  of  labour,  averaging,  at  least,  double  the 
rate  in  England,  and  quadruple  that  in  France ;  so 
comparatively  scanty  the  population ;  so  great  the  de- 
mand for  all  kinds  of  work ;  so  vast  the  quantity,  and 
so  low  the  price  of  land ;  so  light  the  taxes  ;  so  little 
burdensome  the  public  expenditure  and  debt. 

The  recent  convulsions  and  distresses  of  Europe 
have,  during  the  last  two  or  three  years,  thrown  a  more 
than  usual  quantity  of  foreign  emigrants  into  the  United 
States. 

For  the  rapid  increase  of  population,  however,  this 
country  is  much  less  indebted  to  foreign  emigration,  than 
is  generally  believed.  The  number  of  emigrants  from 
other  countries,  into  the  union,  has  not  averaged  more 
than  five  thousand  annually,  during  the  twenty-five  years 
preceding  the  peace  of  Europe  in  1815;  and  full  half 
that  number  have,  during  the  same  period,  migrated 
from  the  United  States,  partly  into  Upper  Canada,  and 
partly  as  seafaring  adventurers,  all  over  the  world. 
The  proof  that  this  country  owes  the  rapid  increase  of 
its  population  chiefly  to  its  own  exertions  in  that  univer- 
sal domestic  manufactory,  the  production  of  children, 
lies  in  the  fact,  that  the  average  births  are  to  the  deaths, 
throughout  the  whole  United  States,  as  100  to  48;  in 
the  healthiest  parts,  as  New-England  and  the  Middle 
States,  as  100  to  44; — in  the  least  healthy,  namely, 
the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  as  100  to  52. — The  an- 
nual deaths  average,  throughout  the  United  States, 
one  in  forty ;  in  the  healthiest  districts,  one  in  fifty-six ; 
in  the  most  unhealthy,  one  in  thirty-five.  There  die, 
annually,  in  all  Europe,  in  great  cities,  one  in  twenty- 
three  ;  in  moderately- sized  towns,  one  in  twenty- 
eight;  in  the  country,  one  in  thirty-five;  and  in  the 
most  healthy  parts,  one  in  fifty-five. 

The  aggregate  salubrity  of  the  United  States  sur- 
passes that  of  Europe ;  the  males  are,  generally,  active, 


RESOURCES  OF  THI  UNITED  STATES. 


21 


robust,  muscular,  and  powerful,  capable  of  great  exer- 
tion and  endurance  ;  the  females  display  a  fine  symme- 
try of  person,  lively  and  interesting  countenances,  frank 
and  engaging  manners.  Neither  the  men  nor  the  wo- 
men exhibit  such  ruddy  complexions  as  the  British, 
Dutch,  Swedes,  Danes,  Russians,  Norwegians,  and  the 
northern  Europeans  generally.  The  Americans  ave- 
rage a  longer  life  than  the  people  in  Europe ;  where 
only  three,  out  of  every  thousand  births,  reach  the  ages 
of  eighty  to  ninety  years ;  whereas,  in  the  United  States, 
the  proportion  is  five  to  every  thousand. 

The  population  of  the  whole  United  States  has, 
hitherto,  doubled  itself  in  rather  less  than  twenty-five 
years.  The  New-England  States,  of  course,  do  not 
retain  their  proportion  of  this  increase,  because  large 
bodies  of  their  people  migrate  annually  to  the  western 
country;  which,  in  consequence,  has  increased  much 
faster  than  do  the  States  on  the  seaboard.  Kentucky, 
for  example,  has  increased  eighty  per  cent,  in  ten 
years ;  Tennessee,  ninety-five  ;  Ohio,  one  hundred  and 
eighty;  Louisiana,  one  hundred  and  fifty;  Indiana, 
eight  hundred ;  Mississippi  Territory,  one  hundred  and 
sixty ;  Illinois  Territory,  seven  hundred ;  Missouri  Ter- 
ritory, six  hundred  ;  and  Michigan  Territory,  six 
hundred ; — while,  of  all  the  Atlantic  States,  the  great- 
est increase  is  only  forty-four  per  cent,  the  population 
growth  of$  New- York ;  and  the  least  is  twenty  per 
cent,  that  of  Virginia.  So  that,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  the  States  will  range,  if  the  future  be  like  the 
past,  as  to  their  aggregate  population,  in  the  following 
order:  New- York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Kentucky, 
Ohio,  North-Carolina,  Massachusetts,  South-Carolina, 
Tennessee,  Maryland,  Georgia,  New-Jersey,  Connecti- 
cut, Vermont,  Louisiana,  New-Hampshire,  Indiana, 
Missouri,  Mississippi,  Illinois,  Delaware,  and  Rhode- 
Island. 

Although  the  Western  Country  draws  off  large  mi- 
grations from  the  Atlantic  States,  particularly  from 
New-England,  yet  the  annually-increasing  surplus  of 
population  in  those  States  has  become  so  great,  that 


22  RESOURSES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

they  will  not  very  sensibly  feel  the  drain ;  because  the 
whole  of  the  annual  increase  will  never  migrate  in  any 
given  year,  until  the  older  States  shall  be  overstocked. 
Massachusetts  proper,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode-Island 
appear  to  be  approximating  to  that  point ;  for  their  po- 
pulation averages  a  very  slow  increase ;  and  they 
furnish,  yearly,  great  numbers  of  recruits  to  the  West- 
ern Country.  As  long  as  the  Federal  Union  lasts, 
every  succeeding  year  will  diminish  the  relative  import- 
ance of  New-England  in  the  American  commonwealth, 
by  rendering  her  population  and  resources  less  and  less 
proportionate  to  those  of  the  Western  States,  wrhose 
preponderance  in  the  national  councils  is  already  begun 
to  DC  felt.  Supposing,  however,  that  the  national 
councils  shall  be  directed  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole 
United  States,  and  not,  exclusively,  or  too  abundantly, 
for  the  local  interests  of  some  particular  districts ;  then 
no  injury  can  accrue  to  the  older  States,  on  account  of 
their  annual  migrations  to  the  west :  because,  by  aug- 
menting the  population  and  resources  of  the  Union  at 
large,  they  do,  in  fact,  augment  their  own  strength,  as 

an  integral  part  of  that  Union.  If  otherwise,  indeed, 

but  it  is  not  pleasant  to  indulge  in  ill-omened  anticipa- 
tions ;  sufficient  for  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof. 

The  migrations  to  the  west,  at  present,  are  supposed 
to  average  one-third  of  the  annual  increase  of  the  older 
States ;  to  this,  add  the  importation  of  foreigners  from 
Europe,  and  the  growth  of  their  own  native  stock  of 
population,  in  an  extensive  country,  a  fertile  soil,  and 
a  favourable  climate  ;  and  It  requires  no  great  skill  in 
political  arithmetic  to  calculate  how  soon  the  Western 
States  will  outweigh  all  the  rest  of  the  Union  in  the 
general  government,  by  the  mere  force  of  a  more  nume- 
rous people.  An  overstock  of  inhabitants  must  always 
be  measured  by  the  habits  and  manners  prevalent  in 
any  given  country.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  barbarous 
life,  for  instance,  such  as  our  aboriginal  Indians  pursue, 
one  hunter  for  every  square  mile  is  considered  by  them 
a  full  stock  ;  and  when  there  is  more  than  this  propor- 
tion, they  say,  "  it  is  time  for  our  young  men  to  go  to 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


23 


War,  or  we  shall  starve"  Hence  arises  their  merciless 
mode  of  fighting  and  extermination  after  conquest,  so 
common  to  all  savage  hostilities.  In  the  next,  or  pasto- 
ral state  of  human  society,  an  increase,  at  the  rate  of 
three  or  four  to  each  square  mile,  takes  place ;  as  is  seen 
in  Arabia,  and  other  parts  of  Africa,  and  in  Asia.  Irt 
the  more  advanced  stages  of  social  life,  in  countries 
where  agriculture  and  commerce  prevail,  the  rate  of 
population  varies  from  three  to  three  hundred  for  each 
square  mile  of  territory,  according  to  the  different  de- 
grees of  advancement  in  the  arts  of  civilization,  and 
commercial,  horticultural,  agricultural,  mechanical,  and 
scientific  pursuits.  In  the  most  populous  parts  of  China, 
there  are  upwards  of  three  hundred  persons  to  each 
square  mile  ;  in  England,  Ireland,  the  Netherlands,  and 
Italy,  the  average  is  two  hundred ;  in  France,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty ;  in  Scotland,  seventy ;  in  Massachusetts, 
Rhode-Island,  and  Connecticut,  fifty-two ;  New-York, 
twenty;  Virginia,  fifteen;  the  whole  United  States, 
four. 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  observation,  that  in  the  State 
of  Virginia  there  appear  to  be  three  distinct  races  of 
people ;  those  on  the  seaboard,  up  to  the  head  of  the 
tidewater,  are  a  sickly,  indolent,  feeble  tribe;  from 
the  head  of  the  tidewater  to  the  base  of  the  Blue-ridge, 
the  soil  is  inhabited  by  as  fine,  robust,  athletic,  power- 
ful a  body  of  men  as  may  be  found  in  the  world ;  on 
the  ridge  of  the  Blue-mountains,  the  population  is  less 
in  stature,  but  extremely  active,  hardy,  strong,  and 
enterprising. 

The  rapid  increase  of  a  healthy  and  vigorous  popu- 
lation implies  a  flourishing  state  of  agriculture ;  and,  ac-* 
cordingly,  the  United  States,  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  except  1808,  (the  embargo  year,)  and  1814,  in 
addition  to  maintaining  their  own  fast-growing  popula- 
tion, have,  on  an  average,  exported  one-fourth  of  their 
agricultural  produce.  For  the  tables,  showing  these 
exports,  from  the  year  1791  to  1816,  both  inclusive, 
the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Pitkin's  Statistical  View 
of  the  United  States,  Agriculture,  as  a  science,  is  im- 


24 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


proving  rapidly;  and  agricultural  societies  are  establish- 
ed in  Massachusetts,  New-York,  Pennsylvania,  and 
some  other  States,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the 
modes  of  tillage,  pasture,  and  grazing,  best  adapted  to 
the  different  districts  of  the  union.  The  chief  articles  of 
agricultural  export  are  wheat,  flour,  rice,  Indian  corn, 
rye,  beans,  peas,  potatoes,  beef,  tallow,  hides,  butter, 
cheese,  pork,  &c.  horses,  mules,  sheep,  tobacco,  cotton, 
indigo,  flax-seed,  wax,  &c.  &c.—- The  following  state- 
ment shows  the  value  of  agricultural  exports,  consti- 
tuting vegetable  food,  in  particular  years,  namely  : 

In  1802,  $  12,790,000;  1803,  $14,080,000;  1807, 
$14,432,000;  1808,  $2,550,000;  1811,  $20,391,000; 
1814,  $2,179,000;  1815,  $11,234,000;  1816, 
$13,150,000. 

The  United  States  far  surpass  Europe  in  navigable 
capacities ;  their  rivers  are  more  numerous,  more  ca- 
pacious, and  navigable  a  greater  distance.  The  Hud- 
son, or  North  river,  that  ministers  to  the  convenience 
and  wealth  of  the  city  of  New- York,  and  is,  by  no 
means,  to  be  reckoned  among  the  largest  of  the  Ame- 
rican rivers,  is  navigable  for  sizeable  craft  nearly  two 
hundred  miles  from  the  Atlantic.  Some  notion  may 
be  formed  of  the  facilities  for  internal  navigation  in  this 
country,  by  casting  the  eye  over  a  map  of  the  United 
States,  and  tracing  the  course  of  some  of  the  principal 
rivers;  for  instance,  the  Missouri,  the  Arkansas,  the  Red 
River,  the  La  Plate,  the  Ohio,  the  Tennessee,  and, 
above  all,  the  Mississippi,  the  eastern  extremity  of 
whose  stream  is  the  head  water  of  the  Alleghany,  in 
Pennsylvania,  about  two  hundred  miles  northwest  of 
Philadelphia.  Its  western  extremity  is  the  headwater 
of  Jefferson  river,  about  550  miles  from  the  Pacific 
ocean  ;  making  a  distance  between  these  two  extreme 
points,  of  1700  miles,  in  a  straight  line.  Its  northern 
extremity  is  a  branch  of  the  Missouri,  about  570  miles 
west  by  north  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  Its  southern 
extremity  is  the  south  pass  into  the  gulf  of  Mexico, 
about  a  hundred  miles  below  New-Orleans;  making  a 
distance,  between  its  extreme  north  and  south,  in  a 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  25 

straight  line,  of  1680  miles.  So  that  this  river,  and  its 
branches,  spread  over  a  surface  of  about  fifteen  hundred 
thousand  square  miies,  traversing,  in  whole,  or  in  part, 
the  following  States  and  Territories ;  namely,  the  Ter- 
ritories of  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Northwest,  and  Illi- 
nois ;  and  the  States  of  Indiana,  Ohio,  New-York, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  two  Carolinas, 
Georgia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Louisiana. 

Several  successful  efforts  have  been  made,  and  more 
are  now  in  progress  and  in  contemplation,  to  render 
the  vast  internal  navigation  of  the  United  States  still 
more  complete  by  the  help  of  canals.  On  this  subject, 
much  valuable  information  may  be  derived  from  the 
able  and  luminous  Report  of  Mr.  Gallatin,  when  Se- 
cretary of  the  Treasury,  on  public  roads  and  canals, 
sent  to  the  Senate  on  the  2d  of  March,  1807.  This 
Report,  the  substance  of  which  will  be  given  presently, 
recommends  to  the  general  government  to  form  canals, 
from  north  to  south,  along  the  Atlantic  seacoast;  to 
open  communications  between  the  Atlantic  and  western 
waters,  and  between  the  Atlantic  waters  and  those  of 
the  great  lakes,  and  river  St.  Lawrence  ;  and,  finally, 
to  make  interior  canals,  wherever  they  may  be  wanted, 
throughout  the  Union.  The  United  States  possess  a 
tidewater  inland  navigation,  secure  from  storms  and 
enemies,  reaching  from  Massachusetts  to  the  southern 
extremity  of  Georgia,  and  interrupted  only  by  four 
necks  of  land ;  namely,  the  isthmus  of  Barnstable,  in 
Massachusetts  ;  that  part  of  New-Jersey  which  extends 
from  the  Raritan  to  the  Delaware;  the  peninsula  be- 
tween the  Delaware  and  the  Chesapeake  ;  and  the  low 
marshy  tract  which  divides  the  Chesapeake  from  Albe- 
marle  Sound. 

It  is  needless  to  expatiate  on  the  utility  of  such  a 
range  of  internal  navigation,  whether  in  peace  or  war, 
to  quicken  the  pace,  and  multiply  the  products  of  com- 
merce; to  augment  the  means,  and  magnify  the  re- 
sources both  of  offensive  and  defensive  warfare. 

The  inconveniences,  complaints,  nay  dangers,  result- 
ing from  a  vast  extent  of  territory,  cannot  be  radically 

4 


26  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UMTED  STATES. 

removed  or  prevented,  except  by  opening  speedy  and 
easy  communications  through  all  its  parts.  Canals 
would  shorten  distances,  facilitate  commercial  and  per- 
sonal intercourse,  and  unite  by  a  still  more  intimate 
community  of  interests  the  most  remote  quarters  of  the 
United  States.  No  other  single  operation  has  so  direct 
a  tendency  to  strengthen  and  perpetuate  that  Federal 
Union,  which  secures  external  independence,  domestic 
peace,  and  internal  liberty  to  the  many  millions  of  free- 
men that  are  spread  over  an  area  of  territory  larger 
than  the  surface  of  all  Europe. 

Impressed  with  the  weight  of  these  truths,  the  House 
of  Representatives  and  Senate,  in  Congress  assembled, 
in  February,  1817,  passed  a  bill,  appropriating  a  fund 
for  internal  improvement ;  the  principal  features  of 
which  were  to  perfect  the  communication  from  Maine  to 
Louisiana;  to  connect  the  Lakes  with  the  Hudson 
river;  to  connect  all  the  great  commercial  points  on 
the  Atlantic,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington, 
Richmond,  Charleston,  and  Savannah,  with  the  Western 
States,  and  complete  the  intercourse  between  the  west 
and  New-Orleans.  On  the  3d  of  March,  Mr.  Madison 
withheld  his  signature,  on  account  of  his  scruples,  that 
the  Federal  Constitution  had  not  given  to  Congress  any 
power  to  make  internal  improvements  in  the  United 
States ;  and  Mr.  Monroe,  in  his  message  to  Congress 
on  the  2d  of  December,  1817,  after  expatiating  on  the 
benefit  of  canals  and  roads,  declares  it  to  be  his  settled 
opinion  that  Congress  has  no  power  to  make  any  such 
internal  improvement;  and  advises  an  amendment  to  the 
Federal  Constitution,  that  shall  give  such  a  power. 
But  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  on 
this  part  of  the  President's  Message,  reported,  on  the 
15th  of  December,  1817,  that  Congress  has  power,  1st. 
To  lay  out,  construct,  and  improve  post  roads  through 
the  several  States,  with  the  assent  of  the  respective 
States,  2dly.  To  open,  construct,  and  improve  military 
roads,  through  the  several  States,  with  the  assent  of 
the  respective  States.  3dly.  To  cut  canals  through  the 
several  States,  with  their  assent,  for  promoting  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  27 

giving  security  to  internal  commerce,  and  for  the  more 
safe  and  economical  transportation  of  military  stores  in 
time  of  war;  leaving,  in  all  these  cases,  the  jurisdic- 
tional  right  over  the  soil,  in  the  respective  States. 

If  the  general  government  cannot  aid  the  internal 
navigation  of  the  Union,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  State 
governments  to  accomplish  that  important  object  at  a 
comparatively  small  expense.  For  less  than  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  a  sloop  navigation  might  be 
opened  between  Buffaloe  and  me  Fond  du  Lac,  a  dis- 
tance of  1800  miles;  the  only  interruption  being  the 
Rapids  of  St.  Mary,  between  lakes  Huron  and  Supe- 
rior. The  Ohio,  by  one  of  its  branches,  French  Creek, 
approaches,  with  a  navigation  for  boats  to  within  seven 
miles  of  Lake  Erie;  by  the  Connewango,  to  within 
nine ;  by  the  Muskingum  to  the  source  of  the  Cayahoga. 
The  Wabash  mingles  its  waters  with  those  of  the 
Miami  of  the  Lakes ;  and  the  waters  of  the  Illinois 
interweave  their  streams  with  those  of  Lake  Michigan, 
whence  to  St.  Louis  boats  pass  without  meeting  with  a 
single  portage. 

The  Apalachian  Mountains  extend  west  of  south 
from  the  42d  to  the  34th  degree  of  north  latitude,  ap- 
proaching the  sea,  and  washed  by  the  tide,  in  the  State 
of  New-York;  and  thence,  in  their  southerly  course, 
gradually  receding  from  the  seashore.  In  breadth 
about  150  miles,  they  present  a  succession  of  parallel 
ridges  following  nearly  the  direction  of  the  seacoast, 
irregularly  intersected  by  rivers,  and  divided  by  narrow 
valleys.  The  ridge,  called  Alleghany,  which  divides 
the  Atlantic  rivers  from  the  western  waters,  preserves 
throughout  a  nearly  equal  distance  of  250  miles  from 
the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  a  nearly  uniform  elevation  of 
3000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  These  mountains 
consist  of  two  principal' chains,  between  which  lies  the 
fertile  limestone  valley,  that,  although  occasionally  in- 
terrupted by  transversal  ridges,  and,  in  one  place,  by 
the  dividing  or  Alleghany  ridge,  reaches  from  New- 
burgh  and  Esopus,  on  the  Hudson  river,  to  Knoxville, 
on  tne  Tennfessee.  The  eastern  and  narrowest  chain  i,s 


0g  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  Blue  Ridge  of  Virginia  which,  in  its  northeast 
course,  traverses  under  various  names,  the  Slates  of 
Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and  New-Jersey,  forms  the 
Highlands,  broken  at  Westpoint  by  the  tide  of  the  Hud- 
son, and  then  uniting  with  the  Green  Mountains,  as- 
sumes a  northerly  direction,  and  divides  the  waters  of 
the  Hudson  and  Lake  Champlain,  from  those  oi  Con- 
necticut river. 

On  the  borders  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  the 
Blue  Ridge  is  united  by  an  inferior  mountain,  with  the 
great  western  chain,  and  thence  to  its  southern  extre- 
mity, becomes  the  principal  or  dividing  mountain,  dis- 
charging eastward  the  rivers  Roanoke,  Pedee,  Santee, 
and  Savannah,  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean ;  southward,  the 
Chatahouchee,  and  the  Alabama,  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexi- 
co ;  and  westward,  the  New  River,  and  the  Tennessee. 
The  New  River,  taking  a  course  northward,  breaks 
through  all  the  ridges  of  the  great  western  chain ;  and, 
a  little  beyond  it  unites,  under  the  name  of  Kanhawa, 
with  the  Ohio.  The  Tennessee  at  first  runs  south- 
west, between  the  two  chains  ;  until  having,  in  a  course 
westward,  turned  the  southern  extremity  of  the  great 
western  chain,  it  takes  a  direction  northward,  and  joins 
its  waters  with  those  of  the  Ohio,  a  few  miles  above 
its  confluence  with  the  Mississippi.  The  western  chain, 
much  broader  and  more  elevated,  bears  the  names  of 
Cumberland  and  Gauly  mountains,  from  its  southern 
extremity,  near  the  great  bend  of  the  Tennessee  river, 
until  it  becomes,  in  Virginia,  the  principal  or  dividing 
mountain.  Thence,  in  its  northerly  course,  towards  the 
State  of  New- York,  it  discharges  westward  the  Green 
Brier  river,  which,  by  its  junction  with  the  New  River, 
forms  the  Kanhawa,  and  the  rivers  Monongahela  and 
Alleghany,  which,  from  their  confluence  at  Pittsburgh, 
assume  the  name  of  Ohio.  Eastward,  it  pours  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  James  River,  the  Potomac,  and  the 
Susquehannah.  From  the  northernmost  and  less  eleva- 
ted spurs  of  the  chain,  the  Gennessee  flows  into  the 
lake  Ontario;  and  in  that  quarter  the  northern  branches 
of  the  Susquehannah  appear  to  take  their" source,  from 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  29 

among  inferior  ridges ;  and,  in  their  course  to  the 
Chesapeake,  to  break  through  all  the  mountains.  From 
the  Susquehannah,  the  principal  chain  runs  more  east- 
ward, and  washed  on  the  north  by  the  lateral  valley  of 
the  river  Mohawk,  terminates,  under  the  name  of  Cats- 
kill  Mountain,  in  view  of  the  tidewater  of  the  Hudson. 

It  is  evident  that  a  canal  navigation  cannot  be  carried 
across  these  mountains ;  the  most  elevated  lock  canal 
in  the  world  is  that  of  Languedoc ;  and  the  highest 
ground  over  which  it  is  carried  is  only  600  feet  above 
the  sea.  England,  with  all  her  means  and  appliances, 
has  never  yet  completed  a  canal  of  an  elevation  exceed- 
ing 500  feet  above  the  waters  united  by  it.  The  Alle- 
ghany  Mountain,  generally,  is  3000  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  The  impracticability  arises  from  the 
principle  of  lock  navigation,  which,  in  order  to  effect 
the  ascent,  requires  a  greater  supply  of  water  in  pro- 
portion to  the  height  to  be  ascended,  whilst  the  supply 
of  water  becomes  less  in  the  same  proportion.  Nor 
does  the  chain  of  mountains,  through  the  whole  extent 
where  it  divides  the  Atlantic  from  the  western  rivers, 
afford  a  single  pond,  lake,  or  natural  reservoir.  Indeed, 
except  in  the  swamps  along  the  southern  seacoast,  no 
lake  is  to  be  found  in  the  United  States  south  of  41 
degrees  of  north  latitude ;  and  almost  every  river,  north 
of  42  degrees,  issues  from  a  lake  or  pond.  The  works 
necessary,  therefore,  to  facilitate  the  communications 
from  the  seaports  across  the  mountains  to  the  western 
waters,  must  consist  either  of  artificial  roads,  extending 
the  whole  way  from  tidewater  to  the  nearest  and  most 
convenient  navigable  western  waters,  or  of  improve- 
ments in  the  navigation  of  the  leading  Atlantic  rivers  to 
the  highest  practicable  points,  connected  by  artificial 
roads  across  the  mountains,  with  the  nearest  points 
from  which  a  permanent  navigation  can  be  relied  on5 
down  the  western  rivers. 

The  undertaking  may  be  accomplished,  by  making 
four  artificial  roads  from  the  four  great  western  rivers, 
the  Alleghany,  Monongahela,  Kanhawa,  and  Tennes- 
see, to  the  nearest  corresponding  Atlantic  rivers,  the 


OQ  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Susquehannah,  or  Juniata,  the  Potomac,  James  river,, 
and  either  the  San  tee  or  Savannah,  and  continuing  the 
roads  eastward  to  the  nearest  seaports.  To  which  add 
the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the  four  Atlantic 
rivers,  from  the  tidewater  to  the  highest  practicable 
point  effected,  principally  by  canals  round  the  falls,  and 
by  locks,  Avhen  necessary ;  and  particularly  a  canal  at 
the  Falls  of  Ohio.  And  although  a  canal  navigation, 
uniting  the  Atlantic  and  western  waters  in  a  direct 
course  across  the  mountains,  is  not  practicable,  yet  the 
mountains  may  be  turned,  either  on  the  north,  by  means 
of  the  Mohawk  valley  and  Lake  Ontario,  or  on  the 
south,  through  Georgia  and  the  Mississippi  Territory. 

The  country  lying  between  the  sources  of  the  rivers 
Chatahouchee  and  Mobile  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is 
an  inclined  plane,  regularly  descending  towards  the 
sea;  and,  by  following  the  proper  levels,  it  presents  no 
natural  obstacles  to  opening  a  canal,  fed  by  the  water* 
of  the  Mobile  and  Chatahouchee,  and  extending  from 
the  tidewater  on  the  coast  of  Georgia  to  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  distance  in  a  direct  line  is  about  550  miles  j 
and  the  design,  if  accomplished,  would  discharge  the 
Mississippi  into  the  Atlantic  ocean.  An  inland  naviga- 
tion, even  for  open  boats,  already  exists  from  New- 
Orleans  by  the  Canal  Carondelet  to  Lake  Pontchar- 
train,  thence,  between  the  coast  and  the  adjacent 
islands,  to  the  Bay  of  Mobile,  and  up  its  two  principal 
rivers,  the  Alabama  and  the  Tombigbee,  to  the  head  of 
the  tide  within  the  acknowledged  boundaries  of  the 
United  States. 

The  current  of  these  two  rivers  being  much  less 
rapid  than  that  of  the  Mississippi,  they  were  for  a  long 
time  contemplated,  particularly  the  Tombigbee,  as  af- 
fording a  better  communication  to  the  ascending  or  re- 
turning trade  from  New-Orleans  to  the  waters  of  the 
Tennessee,  from  which  they  are  separated  by  short 
portages.  The  navigation  of  the  Kanhawa  and  the 
eastern  branches  of  the  Tennessee,  Monongahela,  and 
Alleghany,  in  their  course  through  the  mountains,  may 
be  easily  improved.  From  the  foot  of  the  mountains 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


31 


all  those  rivers,  especially  the  Ohio,  flow  with  a  much 
gentler  current  than  the  Atlantic  rivers.  All  those 
rivers,  at  the  annual  melting  of  the  snows,  rise  to  the 
height  of  more  than  forty  feet,  affording  from  the  upper 
points,  to  which  they  are  navigable,  a  safe  navigation  to 
the  sea  for  any  ship  that  can  pass  over  the  bar  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Ana  numerous  vessels,  from 
one  to  four  hundred  tons  burden,  are  now  annually  built 
at  several  ship-yards  on  the  Ohio,  as  high  up  as  Pitts- 
burgh, and  bringing  down  to  New-Orleans  the  produce 
of  the  upper  country  consumed  there,  carry  to  Europe 
and  the  Atlantic  ports  of  the  United  States  the  sugar, 
the  cotton,  and  the  tobacco  of  the  States  of  Louisiana, 
Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Mississippi,  and  Indiana,  and  of 
the  Missouri  and  Alabama  Territories. 

Until  lately  the  exports  far  exceeded  the  imports  of 
New-Orleans;  such  were  the  labour,  time,  and  expense 
necessary  to  ascend  the  rapid  stream  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  nature  of  whose  banks,  annually  overflowed  on  a 
breadth  of  several  miles,  precludes  the  possibility  of 
towing  paths.  So  that  whilst  the  greater  part  of  the 
produce  of  the  immense  country  watered  by  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  its  tributary  streams,  was,  of  necessity, 
exported  through  the  channel  of  New-Orleans,  the  im- 
portations of  a  considerable  portion  of  that  country 
were  supplied  from  the  Atlantic  seaports  by  water  and 
land  communications.  But  now  steam-boats  carry  mer- 
chandise and  men  from  New-Orleans  up  to  the  Falls  of 
Louisville,  on  the  Ohio,  a  distance  of  1700  miles.  Here 
a  canal  might  be  made  for  half  a  million  of  dollars.  At 
present,  however,  there  is  a  portage  of  less  than  two 
miles  at  the  Ohio  falls,  whence  steam-boats  ply  regu- 
larly to  Pittsburgh,  a  distance  of  700  miles ;  thu  n- 
suring  to  the  Western  Country  and  its  great  outlet, 
New-Orleans,  a  rapidity  of  growth  in  wealth,  power, 
and  population,  unexampled  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  steam-boat  navigation 
is  much  more  expensive  than  that  by  sloops,  nearly  as 
ten  to  one. 


32 


RESOURCES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


As  to  the  communications  between  the  Atlantic  rivers 
and  the  river  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lakes,  ves- 
sels ascend  the  St.  Lawrence  from  the  sea  to  Montreal, 
The  river  Sorrel  discharges  at  some  distance  below  that 
town,  the  waters  of  Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain, 
which  penetrate  southward  within  the  United  States. 
From  Montreal  to  Lake  Ontario  the  ascent  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  is  200  feet.  From  the  eastern  extremity  of 
Lake  Ontario,  an  inland  navigation  for  vessels  of  more 
than  a  hundred  tons  burden  is  continued  above  a  thou- 
sand miles,  through  lakes  Erie,  St.  Clair,  and  Huron, 
to  the  western  and  southern  extremities  of  Lake,  Mi- 
chigan, with  no  other  interruption  than  the  falls  and 
rapids  of  Niagara,  between  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  On- 
tario. Lake  Superior,  the  largest  of  those  inland  seas, 
communicates  with  the  northern  extremity  of  Lake 
Huron,  by  the  river  and  rapids  of  St.  Mary's.  Five 
Atlantic  rivers  approach  the  waters  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence; namely,  the  Penobscot,  Kennebeck,  Connecti- 
cut, the  North,  or  Hudson  river,  and  the  Tioga  branch 
of  the  Susquehannah  ;  which  last  river  might  afford  a 
useful  communication  with  the  rivers  Seneca  and  Ge- 
nessee,  that  empty  themselves  into  Lake  Ontario.  The 
Susquehannah  is  the  only  Atlantic  river  whose  sources 
approach  both  the  western  waters  and  those  of  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

The  three  eastern  rivers  afford  convenient  commu- 
nications with  the  Province  of  Lower  Canada,  but  not 
with  the  extensive  inland  navigation  which  penetrates 
through  the  United  States,  within  200  miles  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  North  river  is  a  narrow  and  long 
bay,  wnich,  in  its  course  from  the  harbour  of  New- 
York,  breaks  through  or  turns  all  the  mountains,  af- 
fording a  tide  navigation  for  vessels  of  eighty  tons,  to 
Albany  and  Troy,  nearly  200  miles  above  New-York. 
In  this  particular  the  North  river  differs  from  all  other 
bays  and  rivers  in  the  United  States ;  the  tide  in  no 
other  ascends  higher  than  the  granite  ridge,  or  comes 
within  thirty  miles  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  or  eastern  chain 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  tfNITED  STATES. 


33 


of  mountains.  In  the  North  river  it  breaks  through  the 
Blue  Ridge  at  West-Point,  and  ascends  above  the 
eastern  termination  of  the  Catskill,  or  great  western 
chain.  A  few  miles  above  Troy,  and  the  head  of  the 
tide,  the  Hudson  from  the  north,  and  the  Mohawk  from 
the  west,  unite  their  waters,  and  form  the  North  river. 
The  Hudson,  in  its  course,  approaches  the  waters  of 
Lake  Champlain,  and  the  Mohawk  those  of  Lake  On- 
tario. An  inland  navigation,  opened  by  canals,  between 
Lake  Champlain  and  the  North  river,  would  divert  ta 
the  city  of  New- York  the  trade  of  one-half  of  the  State 
of  Vermont,  and  of  part  of  the  State  of  New-York, 
which  is  now  principally  carried  through  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  Province  of  Canada.  The  works  necessary 
to  effect  water  communications  between  the  tide-water 
of  the  North  river,  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  all  the  lakes, 
except  Lake  Superior,  would  not  cost  more  than  five 
millions  of  dollars. 

The  principal  interior  canals,  which  have  been  al- 
ready completed  in  the  United  States,  are  the  Middle- 
sex canal,  uniting  the  waters  of  the  Merrimack  river 
with  the  harbour  of  Boston,  and  the  Canal  Carondelet, 
extending  from  Bayou  St.  John  to  the  fortifications  or 
ditch  of  New-Orleans,  and  opening  tin  inland  communi- 
cation with  Lake  Pontchartrain.  The  uniting  this 
canal  by  locks  with  the  Mississippi,  would,  independ- 
ently of  other  advantages,  enable  the  general  govern- 
ment to  transport  with  facility  and  effect  the  same 
naval  force  for  the  defence  of  both  the  Mississippi  and 
Lake  Pontchartrain,  the  two  great  avenues  by  which 
New-Orleans  may  be  approached  from  the  sea. 

On  the  17th  April,  1816,  and  15th  April,  1817,  the 
State  Legislature  of  New-York  passed  acts,  appropriat- 
ing funds  for  opening  navigable  communications  be- 
tween the  Lakes  Erie  and*Champlain  and  the.  Atlantic 
ocean,  by  means  of  canals  connected  with  the  Hudson 
river.  This  magnificent  undertaking  is  already  begun, 
and  promises  to  make  effectual  progress  under  the 
auspices  of  Governor  Clinton,  who  has  always  been  its 
zealous  promoter  and  patron.  If  ever  this  magnificent, 

5 


*£  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

project  shall  be  accomplished,  and  a  communication  ac- 
tually opened  by  canals  and  locks,  between  Lake  Erie 
and  the  navigable  waters  of  Hudson's  river,  and  also 
between  Lake  Champlain  and  those  waters,  the  State 
of  New- York  will  soon  become,  in  itself,  a  powerful 
empire. 

The  completion  of  the  projected  canals  would  secure 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  the  entire  profits  of 
this  branch  of  home  commerce,  and  give  to  the  general 
government  the  security  and  influence  connected  with  a 
thickly  settled  frontier,  and  a  decided  superiority  of 
shipping  on  the  lakes. 

The  State  of  New- York  ought  never  to  rest  until  it 
has  accomplished  this  great  object,  seeing  that  its  ac- 
complishment will  speedily  multiply  all  her  resources  of 
territory  and  population.  This  State  contains  inex- 
haustible supplies  of  salt,  gypsum,  iron  ore,  and  a  vast 
variety  of  other  valuable  materials  for  manufacturing 
establishments.  Its  territory,  containing  upwards  of 
thirty  millions  of  acres,  offers  to  agricultural  industry  a 
rich  reward.  A  river  navigation,  scarcely  paralleled 
in  the  world,  for  nearly  200  miles,  without  interrup- 
tion, and  terminating  on  the  seaboard  at  a  port,  capa- 
cious, healthy,  and  easy  of  access,  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year ;  its  interior  boundary  line  passing,  more  than  half 
its  length,  through  the  waters  of  Erie,  Ontario,  and 
Champlain ;  and  the  numerous  navigable  lakes  included 
within  its  limits,  afford  the  highest  commercial  capa- 
bilities and  benefits.  But  the  remote  sections  of  the 
eastern  and  western  districts  lie  neighbouring  to  the 
British  provinces,  and  are  washed  by  navigable  waters, 
which  now  into  the  Atlantic  ocean  through  those  pro- 
vinces. Facilitated  by  the  course  of  their  streams,  and 
the  declivity  of  their  country,  the  Americans  already 
contribute  largely  to  their  commerce.  And,  if  not 
prevented,  it  will  become  permanent,  and  number 
among  its  agents  all  those  who  live  beyond  the  high- 
lands, in  which  our  rivers,  running  to  the  north,  ori- 
ginate, including  what  is  now  the  most  fertile,  and  what 
will  soon  be  the  most  populous,  part  of  the  State. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  35 

in  addition  to  recalling  to  the  market  of  New-York 
the  productions  of  its  own  soil,  now  alienated  to  Cana- 
da, the  constructioo  of  these  canals  would  draw  to  this 
State  the  trade  of  the  western  parts  of  Vermont,  of  a 

freat  portion  of  Upper  Canada,  and  of  the  northern 
•  i  i  * 

alf  of  all  that  vast  region  of  the  United  States  which 

lies  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains.  The  country 
south  of  the  great  lakes,  alone,  includes  as  many  square 
miles  as  constitute  the  whole  home  territory  of  some  of 
the  first-rate  European  powers;  and  is,  perhaps,  the 
most  fertile  part  of  the  globe.  That  country  already 
contains  more  than  a  million  of  souls,  and  is  increasing 
in  its  population  with  a  rapidity  utterly  inconceivable 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  old  and  fully  peopled  districts 
of  Europe.  The  increase  of  New-England  population, 
during  the  last  twenty  years,  has  averaged  six  per  cent, 
annually ;  and  the  surplus  thousands  of  this  increase  are 
continually  migrating  to  the  west.  There  they  are 
joined  by  a  numerous  emigration  from  the  Middle  and 
Southern  States,  who,  together  with  them,  multiply  and 
thrive,  in  proportion  to  the  means  of  subsistence  pro- 
duced by  their  common  industry.  The  projected  canals 
will  open  to  this  immense  and  rapidly  augmenting  popu- 
lation a  cheaper,  safer,  and  more  expeditious  road  to  a 
profitable  market,  than  they  can  possibly  find  in  any 
other  country ;  and,  eventually,  render  the  city  of  New- 
York  the  greatest  commercial  emporium  in  the  world. 
The  United  States  then  exhibit  a  mighty  empire, 
covering  a  greater  extent  of  territory  than  all  Europe, 
and  held  together  by  twenty  separate  State  sovereign- 
ties, watching  over  and  regulating,  in  their  executive, 
legislative,  and  judicial  departments,  all  its  municipal 
and  local  interests;  with  a  Federal  head,  a  general 
government,  preserving  and  directing  all  its  national 
concerns  and  foreign  relations;  with  a  soil,  rich  in 
all  the  productions  of  prime  necessity,  of  convenience, 
and  luxury,  and  capable  of  sustaining  Jive  hundred 
millions  of  people ;  a  line  of  seacoast  more  than  two 
thousand  miles  in  extent,  and  a  natural  internal  na- 
vigation, in  itself  excellent,  and  capable  of  still  further 


3tf  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

improvement,  by  the  construction  of  canals,  at  a  com- 
paratively trifling  expense ;  affording  within  its  capa- 
cious bosom  an  asylum  sufficient  to  receive  all  the  dis- 
tressed of  Europe,  and  holding  out  the  sure  means  o£ 
ample  subsistence  and  perfect  independence  to  every 
one  who  unites  in  his  own  character  and  conduct  the 
qualities  of  industry,  sobriety,  perseverance,  and  in- 
tegrity. For  the  best  mode  of  location  in  the  boundless 
regions  of  the  Western  States  and  Territories,  and  for 
the  disposition  of  the  public  lands,  held  by  the  govern- 
ment in  trust  for  the  people  of  the  United  States,  the 
reader  may,  profitably,  consult  Mr.  Mellish's  "  Geo- 
graphical Description  of  the  United  States ;"  Mr. 
Brown's  "  Western  Gazetteer,  or  Emigrant's  Directo- 
ry," and  Mr.  Darby's  "  Geographical  Description  of 
the  State  of  Louisiana,  the  Southern  part  of  the  State 
of  Mississippi,  and  Territory  of  Alabama :"  and  for  the 
inland  navigation  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  see  "  Resources  of  the  British 
Empire,"  pp.  216 — 223,  both  inclusive. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Commerce,  SCc.  of  the  United  States. 

few  years  since,  a  theory  prevailed  in  this 
country  that  the  United  States  would  become  a  more 
prosperous  and  happy  nation,  if  they  would  forego, 
altogether  and  for  ever,  all  foreign  commerce  ;  and,  as 
a  practical  commentary  upon  this  text,  the  general  go- 
vernment, at  that  time  wielded  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  and 
at  his  special  recommendation,  laid  an  embargo  on  all 
the  American  trade  with  other  countries,  in  the  month 
of  December,  1 807  ;  and  continued  it  with  various  re- 
gulations and  enforcements,  affecting  internal  commerce 
also,  until  the  spring  of  1 809,  a  period  of  eighteen 
months.  These  "  restrictive  energies"  (as  they  were 
vauntingly  called  by  Mr.  Jefferson)  not  only  annihila- 
ted the  foreign  commerce,  but  also  very  materially 
crippled  the  coasting  trade  of  the  United  States.  The 
distress,  misery,  and  ruin,  produced  by  this  great  agri- 
cultural scheme,  not  merely  to  the  merchants,  but  to 
the  farmers  also,  (whose  interests  it  professed  to  sub- 
serve, but  whose  property  it  destroyed  by  taking  away 
the  markets  for  their  produce,)  was  so  general,  so 
deep,  so  intolerable,  as  to  prove  the  entire  fallacy  of 
the  theory ;  and  the  American  people  now  appear  uni- 
versally to  concur  in  the  sentiment  publicly  pronoun- 
ced by  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  efficient  practical 
statesmen,  who  now  serve  as  ornaments  and  bulwarks 
to  the  commonwealth ;  namely,  that  "  commerce  pro- 
tected by  a  navy,  and  a  navy  nourished  by  commerce," 
is  the  policy  best  calculated  to  render  the  United  States 
a  prosperous  and  powerful  empire. 

4CM9S 


38 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


The  aggregate  commerce  of  the  world,  doubtless, 
is  increased  in  consequence  of  the  universal  peace  esta- 
blished in  the  year  1815;  but,  as  certainly,  the  respect- 
ive trade  of  the  United  States  and  Britain  has  been  di- 
minished by  that  event.  Britain  has  lost  her  war 
monopoly,  and  America  has  ceased  to  be  carrier  for  the 
worlcf  They  are  each  reduced  to  the  level  of  peace 
competition ;  and  must  now  contend  in  foreign  markets 
with  the  skill  and  ingenuity  of  France  and  Italy,  the 
patient  industry  and  perseverance  of  the  United  Nether- 
lands, the  rival  labours  of  Denmark,  Sweden,  Russia, 
and  the  commercial  parts  of  Germany,  to  which  add 
the  efforts  of  Spain  and  Portugal.  Hence  have  arisen, 
during  the  last  three  years,  both  in  the  United  States 
and  in  the  British  Isles,  very  general  and  very  grievous 
distress,  bankruptcy,  and  ruin  among  their  merchants, 
manufacturers,  and  farmers.  In  Britain  the  pressure 
has  been  more  severe,  on  account  of  the  enormous  pub- 
lic expenditure,  the  confined  territory,  and  crowded 
population  of  her  home  dominions,  which  allow  no  out- 
let for  her  people,  who  must,  therefore,  if  not  directed 
by  their  government,  and  aided  to  settle  in  the  North 
American  colonies  or  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  or  New 
Holland,  swarm  out  hither,  to  swell  the  rapid  tide  of 
our  western  emigration. 

Nevertheless,  so  immense  is  her  capital,  so  excellent 
her  manufactures,  so  persevering  the  industry  of  her 
people,  so  vigorous  and  all-pervading  her  government, 
that  her  foreign  trade  is  rapidly  improving,  more  parti- 
cularly with  the  Brazils,  the  Baltic,  Italy,  and  the  East- 
Indies.  In.  the  most  prosperous  days  her  foreign  com- 
merce did  not  make  an  eleventh  part  of  her  home  and 
colonial  trade ;  for  the  gradual  progress  and  amount 
of  the  British  trade,  alike  in  the  Isles,  the  colonies,  and 
all  the  quarters  of  the  world,  for  the  last  hundred  years  ; 
See  the  "  Resources  of  the  British  Empire,"  pp.  122 
— 140,  both  inclusive;  and  pp.  399 — 450. 

In  the  United  States  the  pressure  has  been  less  se- 
vere than  in  Britain,  although  the  bankruptcies  among 
our  merchants  and  manufacturers  have  been  sufficiently 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  39 

numerous  and  distressing ;  and,  the  farmers  also  have 
suffered  greatly  for  want  of  a  market  for  their  pro- 
duce; nevertheless,  the  moderate  public  expenditure, 
the  comparatively  scanty  population,  and  the  immense 
outlet  for  enterprising  industry,  in  the  new  lands  and 
virgin  soil  of  the  Western  Country,  prevent  the  neces- 
sity of  any  one,  who  possesses  health  and  industry,  suf- 
fering from  absolute  want  of  food,  clothing,  and  lodg- 
ing. The  foreign  trade  of  this  country  is,  indeed,  at 
present  much  less  than  it  was  previous  to  the  embargo 
system ;  but  such  is  the  activity,  skill,  and  enterprise 
of  the  American  people,  so  well  built,  well  navigated, 
and  speedy  are  their  ships,  and  so  abundant  the  soil  in 
valuable  staples,  that  she  must  always  average  her  full 
share  of  external  commerce;  and  her  home  trade  is  con- 
tinually increasing,  by  the  improvement  of  her  internal 
navigation,  the  variety  of  her  products,  and  the  rapid 
growth  of  her  population,  wealth,  and  intercourse.  The 
wages  of  labour  here,  average  more  than  double  their 
rate  in  England,  and  quadruple  that  in  Prance;  and 
land  is  plentiful,  cheap,  and  fertile ;  so  that  those  who 
are  straitened  and  embarrassed  in  the  large  cities,  have 
only  to  fall  back  into  the  country,  and  become  industri- 
ous yeomen,  and  they  readily  provide  ample  sustenance 
for  themselves,  and  lay  a  broad  and  permanent  founda- 
tion of  independence  for  their  families. 

The  reader  is  referred  to  the  second  edition  of  Mr. 
£itkin's  Statistics  for  an  account  of  the  exports  and 
imports,  the  home  and  foreign  trade  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  proportions  of  their  external  commerce 
with  different  nations,  during  a  period  of  nearly  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years,  including  their  colonial  as 
well  as  their  national  existence  and  commerce.  The 
following  tables  show  the  amount  of  American  foreign 
trade,  in  exports  and  imports,  at  different  periods,  in 
order  to  exhibit  the  rise  and  progress,  and  alternations 
of  the  commercial  career,  which  this  country  has  run. 
from  the  year  1700  down  to  the  present  time. 


40 


fcESOURCES  OF  'i  H£  UNITED  STATED 


Years, 

Exports  of  the 

Imports  of  the 

United  States. 

United  Status. 

Average 

from  1700  to  1710, 

$1,000,000 

$  1,100,000 

1710  to  1720, 

1,700,000 

1,550,000 

1720  to  1730, 

2,600,000 

1,980,000 

1730  to  1740, 

2,940,000 

2,900,000 

1740  to  1750, 

3,120,000 

3,630,000 

1750  to  1760, 

3,710,000 

6,160,000 

1760  to  1770, 

4,670,000 

7,000,000 

1770  to  1780, 

3,100,000    5,200,000 

In  1784. 

4,000,000 

1  8,000,000 

1790. 

6,000,000 

17,260,000 

Years. 

Total  Exports.' 

Exports  of  domestic 
origin. 

Exports  of  foreign 
origin. 

1791 

$19,012,041 
47,989,472 
70,971,780 
55,800,033 
108,343,150 

22,430,960 
66,757,970 

6,927,441 

52,557,753 
81,920,452 

1795 

1800 

1803 

$42,205,961 
48,699,592 

9,433,546 
42,366,675 

6,782,272 

45,974,403 
64,781,896 

$13,594,072 
59,643,558 

12,997,414 
24,391,295 

145,169 

6,583,350 
17,138,555 

1807 

1808,  i.  e.  em-) 
bargo  year,£ 
1810,  embar-} 
go  off,         $ 
1814,        war? 
with  England,) 
1815  

1816  

Of  the  domestic  exports  of  the  United  States  the  pro- 
portions are; — the  produce  of  agriculture,  three- fourths 
jn  value ;  the  produce  of  the  forest,  one-ninth ;  of  the 
sea,  one-fifteenth :  and  manufactures,  one-twentieth. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  4  j 

Of  the  foreign  exports,  the  proportions,  in  1 807,  (the 
greatest  commercial  year  ever  experienced  by  the 
United  States,)  being  the  year  immediately  preceding 
the  embargo,  were  $43,525,320,  imported  from  the 
British  hies;  $3,812,0(55,  from  France  and  her  de- 
pendencies; and  $11,318,53.2,  from  the  rest  of  the 
world.  During  the  years  1802,  1803,  and  1804,  the 
annual  value  of  the  imports  into  the  United  States  was 
$75,316,937 ;  and  of  the  exports,  $68,460,000.  Of  the 
imports  the  proportions  were, 

From  Britain $35,970,000 

the  northern  powers,  Prussia,  and 

Germany 7,094,000 

Dominions  of  Holland,  France, 

Spain  and  Italy 25,475,000 

Dominions  of  Portugal 1 ,083,000 

China,  and  other  native  powers  of 

Asia 4,856,000 

All  other  countries 838,000 

Whence  it  appears  that  the  trade  between  the  Uni- 
ted States  and  Britain  is  greater  in  amount  than  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  all  the  rest  of  the  world: 
which  is  a  strong  reason  why  the  two  countries,  for 
their  mutual  benefit,  should  preserve  friendly  relations 
towards  each  other,  in  the  spirit  as  well  as  in  the  letter 
of  peace. 

During  the  same  three  years,  1802,  1803,  and  1804, 
the  annual  value  of  domestic  exports  was     $39,928,000 
Of  which  was  exported  to  the  British  do- 
minions    20,653,000 

To  northern   powers,  Prussia,  and 

Germany 2,91 8,000 

Dominions  of  Holland,  France, 

Spain,  and  Italy 12,183,000 

Dominions  of  Portugal 1 ,925,000 

All  other  countries 2,249,000 

6 


£2  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  annual  value  of  foreign  produce,  re-exported  to 
all  parts  of  the  world,  during  those  three  years  was, 

$28,533,000 

Of  which  was  exported  to  the  British  do- 
minions   3,054,000 

To  northern   powers,  Prussia  and 

Germany   5,051,000 

Dominions  of  Holland,  France, 

Spain,  and  Italy 1 8,495,000 

Dominions  of  Portugal 396,000 

All  other  countries 1 ,537,000 

Annual  value  of  importations  being $75,316,000 

exports — domestic 

produce $  39,928,000 

foreign  produce  . .    28,533,000 

$68,461,000 


Apparent  balance  against  the  United  States,  $  6,855,000 


The  imports  for  the  year  1807  were,  in 

value  $138,574,876 

exports — domestic 

produce $48,699,592 

foreign  produce  ..  59,643,558 

$108,343,150 


Total  ...  .  $246,918,026 


From  this  great  commerce  with  foreign  nations, 
amounting  to  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of 
dollars,  in  one  year,  together  with  all  the  wealth  it 
poured  into  the  country,  and  all  the  productive  industry 
it  put  in  motion,  Mr.  Jefferson's  embargo  cut  off  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  43 

United  States ;  which,  in  consequence  of  our  own  re- 
strictive energies,  the  late  war  with  England,  and  the 
peace  diminution,  have  never  yet  nearly  reached 
that  floodtide  of  trade  which  was  fertilizing  and  en- 
riching every  corner  of  the  Union.  For  a  view  of  the 
trade  of  the  United  States  with  each  country,  from  the 
commencement  of  the  government,  distinguishing  the 
trade  of  the  parent  country  from  that  of  her  colonies 
and  dependencies,  together  with  a  general  account  of 
the  trade  of  America  with  each  quarter  of  the  world, 
the  reader  may  most  profitably  consult  Mr.  Pitkin'a 
Statistics  of  the  United  States,  second  edition,  begin- 
ning at  page  J  83,  and  continuing  to  page  290. 

The  United  States,  since  the  establishment  of  the 
Federal  government,  in  1789,  up  to  the  commence- 
ment of  commercial  restrictions,  in  December,  1807, 
and  the  war  with  England,  in  1812,  increased  in  wealth 
and  population  with  unexampled  rapidity,  as  appears 
by  the  great  increase  of  their  exports  and  imports ;  of 
the  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage,  and  of  their  com- 
mercial tonnage ;  by  the  accumulation  of  wealth  in  all 
their  cities,  towns,  and  villages  ;  by  the  establishment 
of  numerous  moneyed  institutions ;  by  the  great  rise  in 
the  value  of  lands ;  and  by  various  internal  improve- 
ments, in  the  shape  of  roads,  bridges,  ferries,  and  ca- 
nals ;  and  by  their  annual  consumption  of  goods  in- 
creasing rapidly.  For  instance,  the  average  yearly 
amount  of  merchandise,  paying  duties  ad  valorem,  con- 
sumed, was,  in 

Three  years,  from  1790  to  1792 $19,310,801 

Six  years,        —     1793  to  1798 27,051,440 

Three  years,  —     1805  to  1807 38,549,966 

At  least  seventy  millions  of  pounds  weight  of  sugar 
are  consumed  in  the  United  States.  In  1810,  ten  mil- 
lions of  pounds  were  made  in  the  Territory  of  Orleans, 
now  State  of  Louisiana;  and  about  the  same  quantity 
made  from  the  maple-tree  throughout  the  United  States. 


A  A  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITEET  STATES. 

Sugar-cane  plantations  are  increasing  in  Louisiana,  and 
twenty  millions  of  pounds  weight  of  sugar  are  supposed 
to  have  been  made  in  1817.  In  the  State  of  Georgia 
also,  the  sugar-cane  is  cultivated  with  success.  The 
culture  of  the  cane  is  not  more  laborious  than  that  of 
cotton,  and  less  liable  to  accidents;  a  moderate  crop  is 
1000  pounds  per  acre ;  and  in  a  few  years  a  sufficient 
quantity  will,  probably,  be  made  within  the  limits  of 
the  United  States  to  supply  their  consumption.  The 
increase  of  American  tonnage  is  unexampled  in  the 
history  of  the  commercial  world,  owing  to  the  increased 
quantity  of  bulky  domestic  produce  exported,  the  in- 
crease of  population,  and  extent  of  the  carrying  trade. 
The  increase  of  the  registered  tonnage,  or  tonnage  em- 
ployed in  foreign  trade,  from  1793  to  1801,  was 
358,815  tons,  having  nearly  doubled  in  eight  years. 
From  1793  to  1810,  the  increase  was  616,535  tons. 
In  1793,  the  tonnage  employed  in  the  coasting  trade, 
was  122,070  tons;  in  1801,  274,551  tons.  From  1793 
to  1810,  the  increase  was  283,276  tons.  The  tonnage 
employed  in  the  fisheries,  increased  from  1793  to  1807, 
about  40,000  tons. 

The  whole  tonnage  of  the  United  States,  in  1810, 
was  1,424,780  tons;  of  which  the  different  States  owned 
the  following  proportions : 


New-Hampshire,  Tons    28,817 

Massachusetts 495,203 

Rhode-Island 36,155 

Connecticut 45,108 

New- York 276,557 

New-Jersey 43,803 

Pennsylvania 125,430 

Delaware 8,190 


Maryland Tons  143,785 

Virginia 84,923 

North  Carolina 39,594 

South  Carolina 53,926 

Georgia 15,619 

Ohio JVbne. 

New-Orleans , 13,240 


The  State  of  Massachusetts  has  many  hundred  miles 
of  seacoast,  with  numerous  inlets  and  harbours ;  and 
her  amount  of  tonnage  has  always  been  greater  than 
that  of  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  The  tonnage  of 
the  principal  seaports,  in  1810,  was, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  45 

Of  Boston... ...  Tons  149,121 

New-York 268,548  Second  only  to  that  of  London. 

Philadelphia 125,258 

Baltimore 103,444 

Charleston    52,888 

Now,  in  1817,  the  whole  tonnage  employed  in  fo- 
reign trade  is  much  less  than  it  was  in  1810.  So  much 
has  peace  all  over  the  world  lessened  the  external  com- 
merce of  the  United  States.  The  tonnage  of  Britain 
has  not  grown  with  a  rapidity  equal  to  that  of  America; 
for,  in  1700,  it  was  only,  tons  273,693;  in  1750,  tons 
690,798;  in  1800,  tons  1,269,329;  in  1813,  tons 
1 ,579,7 1 5.  In  1 787,  France  owned  only  300,000  tons, 
in  her  foreign  trade;  in  1800,  only  98,304  tons.  In 
1804,  the  nations  round  the  Baltic,  including  Norway 
and  Holstein,  owned  only  493,417  tons,  not  half  the 
tonnage  of  the  United  States. 

The  extensive  and  rapidly  increasing  coasting  trade, 
as  well  as  the  fisheries  of  the  United  States,  will  not 
only  augment  the  wealth  and  comfort  of  the  American 

Keople,  but  will  always  ensure  a  large  body  of  excel- 
jnt  seamen  for  the  supply  of  the  navy,  when  wanted. 
The  American  navy,  formerly  proscribed  as  a  burden 
and  curse  to  the  country,  seems  at  length  to  have 
fought  itself  into  favour  with  all  parties.  Its  heroic 
achievements  and  splendid  success,  during  the  late  war 
with  England,  and  its  present  commanding  attitude  in 
the  Mediterranean,  have  elevated  the  character  of  the 
country,  and  conferred  an  imperishable  glory  upon  its 
own  name ;  and  justly  claims  the  support  and  honour 
of  the  government  and  people,  both  in  peace  and  in 
war,  now  and  for  ever.  The  American  navy  consists 
of  nearly  one  hundred  ships,  brigs,  and  schooners,  be- 
sides small  sloops,  and  gun-boats — of  which  nine  are 
rated  at  seventy-four,  but  carry  ninety  guns ;  ten,  forty- 
four  guns ;  one,  thirty-eight  guns ;  two  thirty-six  guns ; 
two,  thirty-two  guns,  and  thirty,  from  twenty-eight  to 
sixteen  guns.  The  actual  number  far  exceeds  the  rate 
of  guns  in  all  the  classes  of  vessels.  Congress  has 


4g  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

made  ample  appropriations  for  the  annual  increase  of 
the  navy ;  so  that  the  United  States,  in  all  probability, 
will  soon  be  able  to  send  out  fleets  sufficiently  nume- 
rous to  cope  with  any  European  power,  for  the  mastery 
of  that  element,  whose  dominion  invariably  confers  a 
paramount  influence  among  all  the  sovereignties  of  the 
earth.  The  number  of  naval  officers,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  last  war,  were  13  captains,  9  mas- 
ters commanding,  and  70  lieutenants.  The  promo- 
tions during  the  war  were  1  b  captains,  28  masters  com- 
manding, and  120  lieutenants.  The  promotions  since 
the  peace  have  been  10  captains,  19  masters  command- 
ing, and  68  lieutenants. 

An  almost  universal  notion  prevails  in  this  country, 
that  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  will  be  pro- 
digiously benefited  by  the  emancipation  of  the  Spanish 
American  colonies,  and  throwing  open  their  trade  to 
the  world.  But  this  is  at  least  problematical,  because 
those  immense  regions  produce  all  the  staples  of  the 
United  States,  and  many  more  also,  and  would  find,  in 
the  event  of  their  emancipation  and  free  trade,  a  more 
profitable  market  in  Britain  than  in  the  United  States ; 
and  in  return,  England  could  supply  them  with  manu- 
factured goods,  better  in  quality,  more  abundant  in 
quantity,  and  at  a  lower  rate,  than  any  other  country 
&an  possibly  do.  A  proof  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact,  that  the  influx  of  British  goods  into  the  United 
States,  since  the  peace  of  18 1 5,  has  destroyed  or  sus- 
pended a  great  portion  of  our  American  manufacturing 
establishments ;  a  fortiori,  then,  American  cannot  con- 
tend with  British  manufactures  in  foreign  markets,  see- 
ing that  they  are  beat  in  the  unequal  competition  at 
home,  upon  their  own  ground,  although  aided  by  pro- 
tecting duties. 

It  appears  somewhat  doubtful,  whether  the  Spanish 
colonies,  unassisted  by  any  other  power,  will  be  able, 
eventually,  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  Old  Spain;  for, 
during  nearly  ten  years  of  revolutionary  movements, 
they  do  not  seem  to  have  shown  the  intelligence,  skill, 
reflection,  forecast,  combination,  and  perseverance,  re- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  j*j 

quisite  to  establish  a  free  government.  The  hands  of 
England,  probably,  are  tied  up  by  the  Treaty  of  Vi- 
enna; and  the  United  States  government  do  not  seem  dis- 
posed to  interfere,  as  they  passed  an  Act  of  Congress,  a 
few  months  since,  forbidding  the  transportation  of  men, 
and  arms,  and  ammunition,  from  our  American  ports  to 
aid  the  revolted  colonies.  The  President,  in  his  Message 
of  the  2d  of  December,  18  \  7,  states,  that  our  citizens 
sympathize  with  the  Spanish  Americans,  but  the  United 
States  government  have  maintained,  and  will  continue 
to  maintain,  a  strict  neutrality  between  the  contending 
parties,  keeping  their  ports  open  to  both,  and  seeking 
no  exclusive  commercial  advantage  from  the  colonies, 
if  they  shall  become  independent.  Nevertheless,  the 
United  States  government  have  ordered  the  settlements 
on  Amelia  Island,  at  the  mouth  of  St.  Mary's  river, 
near  the  boundary  of  Georgia,  and  at  Galvestown,  in 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  made  by  the  Spanish  Americans,  to 
be  broken  up  by  our  troops;  and  have  sent  commis- 
sioners along  the  southern  coast  of  Spanish  America,  to 
communicate  with  the  existing  authorities,  and  claim 
redress  for  past  and  prevention  of  future  injuries. 
France  and  Spain  both  materially  assisted  the  American 
colonies  in  their  revolt  from  the  mother  country;  and, 
doubtless,  any  government,  whether  military,  or  mo- 
narchical, or  republican,  provided  the  Hispano-Ameri- 
cans  could  establish  their  own  national  sovereignty  and 
independence,  would  be  infinitely  preferable  to  the  co- 
lonial system  of  old  Spain.  A  system  which  enslaves 
both  body  and  mind,  and  debases  the  human  animal 
below  the  condition  of  the  brutes  that  perish.  In  all 
probability,  if  their  national  independence  were  once 
fixed,  in  whatever  form,  and  under  how  many  sove- 
reignties soever,  the  felicitous  contagion  of  liberty 
would  spread  from  the  United  States,  and  gradually 
improve  the  spirit,  and  liberalize  the  character  and 
conduct  of  the  new-born  dynasties. 

The  reader  may  find  considerable  information  on  this 
subject,  by  consulting  the  "  Outline  of  the  Revolution 
in  Spanish  America,  &c."  by  a  South  American,  first 


^0  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

published  in  London,  and  republished  in  New-York, 
in  November,  1817.  This  work  gives  a  full  and  fail- 
account  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  actual  state  of  the 
war  between  Spain  and  Spanish  America,  down  to  the 
close  of  the  year  1816.  The  "  Letter  to  Mr.  Monroe," 
on  the  Spanish  American  revolution,  supposed  to  be 
written  by  Mr.  H.  Brackenridge,  is  an  able  and  spirited 
performance;  it  advises  our  government  to  acknowledge 
the  independence  of  the  Hispano-American  provinces, 
as  soon  as  they  become  independent  de  facto  ;  but  not 
to  go  to  war  with  Spain  on  their  account ;  nor  to  aid 
them  with  men,  money,  arms,  or  ammunition.  See  also 
a  yery  able  article  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  for  No- 
vember, 1817,  respecting  Spain  and  her  colonies;  in 
which  the  writer  maintains  it  to  be  the  duty  of  Britain, 
either  to  observe  a  strict  neutrality  or  to  mediate  ami- 
cably between  the  contending  parties.  This  article 
contains  much  valuable  information  respecting  Spanish 
America,  and  some  profound  and  accurate  observations 
on  the  different  characteristics  of  its  population  and  of 
that  of  the  United  States. 

The  advantages  of  the  emancipation  of  Spanish  Ame- 
rica will  pervade  the  whole  world;  but,  in  the  first 
instance,  will  be  more  particularly  directed  towards 
England.  The  liberation  of  this  immense  region  from 
colonial  bondage  has  engaged  the  attention  of  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  statesmen,  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe.  Early  in  the  first  revolutionary  war,  a  Jesuit, 
born  in  Arequipa,  in  the  province  of  Peru,  addressed  the 
Spanish  colonists,  and  called  upon  them  to  establish  a 
free  and  independent  government,  which  might  at  once 
secure  their  own  prosperity  and  happiness,  and  open  a 
liberal  intercourse  of  reciprocal  benefits  with  the  rest 
of  the  world.  This  enlightened  ecclesiastic,  who  ex- 
hibits an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  most  approved 
principles  of  political  philosophy,  died  in  London,  in 
1798,  and  left  his  manuscript  papers  in  the  hands  of  the 
Honourable  Rufus  King,  at  that  time  minister  in  Britain, 
from  the  United  States.  Some  part  of  these  papers 
was  afterward  printed,  through  the  intervention  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  49 

General  Miranda,  for  the  purpose  of  being  distributed 
among  his  countrymen,  previous  to  his  unsuccessful  ex- 
pedition, in  1806. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  commercial  benefit,  resulting 
from  the  emancipation  of  Spanish  America,  would  be 
the  formation  of  a  navigable  passage  across  the  isthmus 
of  Panama,  the  junction  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
oceans.  The  expense  of  such  an  undertaking  would 
not  exceed  three  or  four  millions  sterling ;  and  Britain 
could  not  more  profitably  employ  twenty  or  thirty 
thousand  of  her  distressed  labourers  than  in  executing 
such  a  task,  under  the  superintendance  of  competent 
engineers.  The  completion  of  this  navigation  would 
give  England  the  command  of  the  commerce  of  the 
whole  world,  and  soon  compensate  her  for  all  the  toil, 
and  wealth,  and  blood,  which  she  has  expended  during 
twenty-five  years  of  unexampled  warfare,  waged  for 
the  redemption  of  Europe  from  revolutionary  bondage. 

In  the  year  1790,  the  scheme  of  Spanish  American 
emancipation  was  first  proposed  to  Mr.  Pitt  by  General 
Miranda,  and  met  with  a  cordial  reception ;  but  was 
soon  afterward  laid  aside,  on  account  of  Britain  and 
Spain  resuming  their  pacific  relations  with  each  other. 
In  the  year  1797,  Miranda  was  met  at  Paris  by  depu- 
ties and  commissioners  from  Mexico  and  the  other  prin- 
cipal provinces  of  Spanish  America,  for  the  purpose  of 
concerting  with  him  the  means  of  emancipating  their 
country.  It  was  decided  that  Miranda  should,  in  their 
name,  repair  to  England,  and  communicate  their  pro- 
positions to  the  British  government ;  one  of  which  was 
to  join  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  at  the  expense  of  the 
colonies,  and  another  to  cede  the  Floridas  to  the  United 
States,  the  Mississippi  being  proposed  as  the  boundary 
between  the  two  nations ;  and  the  stipulation  of  a  small 
military  force,  from  the  anglo-Americans,  to  aid  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  proposed  independence.  It  was 
also  proposed  to  resign  all  the  islands  which  belong  to 
the  Spaniards,  excepting  Cuba ;  the  possession  of  which 
is  rendered  necessary  by  the  situation  of  the  Havanna, 
commanding  the  passage  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This 


50 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


document  is  dated  at  Paris,  22d  of  December,  1797. 
The  proposal  for  the  return  of  Miranda  to  England 
was  acceded  to  by  Mr.  Pitt,  with  whom  a  conference 
was  held  in  January  following.  It  was  proposed  that 
the  United  States  should  furnish  ten  thousand  troops; 
and  the  British  government  agreed  to  find  money  and 
ships.  But  Mr.  Adams,  then  the  American  President, 
declined  to  transmit  an  immediate  answer;  and  the 
measure  was.  in  consequence,  postponed.  In  the  year 
1806,  Mr.  Jefferson,  at  that  time  President  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  disavowed  the  expedition  of  Miranda  to 
emancipate  Spanish  America,  and  actually  caused 
Messrs.  Smith  and  Ogden,  two  merchants  of  the  citj 
of  New-York,  to  be  indicted  in  the  Circuit  Court  for  this 
District  for  aiding  and  abetting  Miranda's  enterprise ; 
but  the  Jury  found  a  verdict  of  acquittal.  For  a  most 
ample  and  splendid  account  of  the  practicability  and 
effects  of  liberating  Spanish  America,  and  joining  the 
two  oceans,  see  the  thirteenth  volume  of  the  Edinburgh 
Review,  pp.  277 — 311,  both  inclusive. 

It  appears  necessary  for  England,  now,  to  make 
some  extraordinary  effort  to  recruit  her  exhausted 
strength,  and  to  relieve  her  present  pressure.  She  has, 
indeed,  during  the  lapse  of  five  and  twenty  years,  di- 
rected, with  a  daring  and  a  steady  hand,  the  vast  re- 
sources of  her  mighty  empire,  against  the  common  ene- 
my of  the  human  race  :  with  the  guardianship  of  pre- 
siding genius,  she  has  aided  the  weak  and  restrained 
the  encroachments  of  the  strong :  she  has  assisted  the 
people  of  continental  Europe  in  their  patriotic  efforts  to 
trample  beneath  their  feet  the  foreign  domination  of  an 
invading  foe ;  she  has  caused  the  star  of  Napoleon  to 
fade  into  a  dim  tinct;  she  has  put  together  the  glitter- 
ing fragments  of  disjointed  Europe,  and  given  again  to 
that  fair  portion  of  the  world  the  beamings  of  religion, 
the  light  of  morals,  and  the  beauty  of  social  order.  But 
her  recent  glories  have  led  her  to  a  painful  pre-emi- 
nence; henceforth  she  is  doomed  to  the  proud  but  me- 
lancholy necessity  of  being  first,  or  nothing.  The  mo- 
ment she  recedes — the  moment  she  bows  her  lofty  head 


RESOURCES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES.  /^| 

beneath  the  ascendancy  of  any  other  nation — that  mo- 
ment she  is  dashed  from  off  her  wide  ambitious  base, 
and  falls,  like  Lucifer,  never  to  rise  again.  In  her  late 
protracted  conflict,  her  frame  has  been  shattered  ;  her 
finances  are  dilapidated  ;  her  agriculture  languishes ; 
her  manufactures  droop;  her  commerce  is  diminished; 
her  population  is  impoverished ;  and,  if  she  hopes  to 
sustain  that  high  eminence  which  her  achievements 
have  reached,  in  the  times  of  Elizabeth,  of  William,  and 
of  her  present  sovereign — achievements  which  have  ren- 
dered her  the  arbitress  of  Europe,  the  bulwark  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  the  tutelary  angel  of 
man ;  she  must  hasten  to  emancipate  the  Spanish  Ame- 
rican colonists,  and  unite  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  oceans.  Unless  some  measures  be  adopted 
by  Britain  to  employ  and  relieve  her  superabundant 
and  indigent  population,  a  much  greater  proportion  than 
has  ever  yet  left  her  native  isles  will  find  their  way 
kither,  to  augment  the  number  of  our  American  citizens. 


CHAPTER  III. 


On  the  Manufactures  of  the  United  States. 

JL  HERE  can  be  no  doubt  that  agriculture  has  a  tenden- 
cy to  produce  a  more  abundant  and  more  healthy  popu- 
lation than  that  which  springs  from  manufactures  ;  but 
agriculture  and  manufactures  act  and  react  upon  each 
other  for  their  mutual  benefit.  For  the  greatest  and 
most  important  branch  of  the  commerce  of  every  nation 
is  that  which  is  carried  on  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
towns  and  cities  with  those  of  the  country.  The 
townsmen  draw  from  the  people  of  the  country  the 
rude  produce,  the  fruits  of  the  soil,  for  which  they  pay 
by  sending  back  into  the  country  a  part  of  this  rude 
produce  manufactured  and  prepared  for  immediate  use. 
Or,  in  other  words,  this  trade  (between  town  and  coun- 
try consists  in  a  given  quantity  of  rude  produce  being 
exchanged  for  a  given  quantity  of  manufactured  pro- 
duce. Whatever,  therefore,  has  a  tendency,  in  any 
country,  to  diminish  the  progress  of  manufactures,  has 
also  a  tendency  to  diminish  me  home  market,  (the  most 
important  of  all  markets  for  the  rude  produce  of  land) 
and  consequently  to  cripple  the  efforts  of  agriculture. 

In  young  and  lately  established  countries,  however, 
where  the  population  is  wo/,  as  yet,  sufficiently  nume- 
rous to  answer  fully  the  demand  for  labour,  it  is  perhaps 
more  adviseable  to  confine  their  attention  chiefly  to  the 
raising  of  rude  produce,  to  the  clearing  new  lands,  and 
cultivating  those  already  reclaimed ;  because  they  can 
import  manufactured  goods  from  an  old  and  thickly 
peopled  country,  at  a  cheaper  rate  than  they  can  fabri- 
cate them  in  their  own;  and  they  will  more  rapidly  in- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


53 


crease  the  number,  strength,  and  wealth  of  their  people 
by  so  doing,  than  by  consuming  a  larger  quantity  of 
capital  in  forming  manufactured  goods  of  a  worse  quality, 
and  at  a  higher  price  than  that  for  which  they  can  bring 
them  from  abroad.  Besides,  as  the  wages  of  labour 
are  so  high,  and  land  so  cheap,  in  the  United  States, 
(and  in  all  new  countries,)  there  is  a  continual  bounty 
offered  to  labourers  to  leave  their  manufacturing  masters, 
and  go  and  buy  land,  and  till  it  for  themselves ;  since 
every  man,  who  has  any  proper  feeling  of  independence 
beating  at  his  heart,  would  rather  toil  for  himself  and 
his  family,  as  an  uncontrolled  yeoman,  than  labour  as 
a  confined  servant  to  a  stranger.  Whence  the  manu- 
facturers would  be  (as  indeed  they  are  daily  and  hourly 
in  the  United  States,)  liable  to  frequent  interruptions  in 
their  proceedings,  and  suffer  much  prejudice  in  their 
trade,  enhancing  the  price  and  deteriorating  the  quality 
of  their  wares ;  all  which  evil  must  ultimately  fall  upon 
the  consumers,  and  necessarily  entail  a  burdensome  im- 
pediment upon  the  productive  exertions  of  the  com- 
munity. 

The  United  States,  therefore,  it  should  seem,  would 
do  well  not  anxiously  to  endeavour  to  force  the  produc- 
tion of  manufactures  by  government  bounties,  by  pro- 
tecting or  prohibitory  duties,  by  monopoly  prices,  be- 
fore an  effectual  demand  shall  be  made  for  them  by  an 
increased  density  of  population  along  the  seaboard,  and 
in  the  interior ;  by  the  more  minute  division  of  labour, 
and  by  the  more  complete  filling  up  of  the  other  channels 
of  trade  and  agriculture.  Nay,  perhaps  it  would  be 
wiser,  for  some  years  yet  to  come,  (until  the  wilderness 
be  reclaimed,  and  the  population  be  more  compact,)  for 
the  Americans  to  confine  themselves  chiefly  to  the  rais- 
ing of  raw  materials,  and  let  Europe  continue  to  be  the 
workshop  where  those  raw  materials  might  be  manu- 
factured ;  because  experience  has  uniformly  shown  that 
no  nation  has  ever  yet  pushed  its  manufactures  to  any 
great  extent,  without  introducing  and  continuing  a  very 
alarming  quantity  of  misery  and  disease,  decrepitude, 
vice,  and  profligacy  among  the  lower  orders  of  the  peo- 


54  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES- 

pie ;  and  this,  to  the  statesman  who  measures  the 
strength  and  greatness  of  a  nation  by  the  health  and 
virtue,  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  its  citizens, 
seems  too  great  a  price  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of  manu- 
facturing a  few  yards  of  broadcloth,  or  a  few  pieces  of 
muslin.  England  herself  is  a  portentous  illustration  of 
this  truth ;  now,  at  this  moment,  and  for  the  last  five 
and  twenty  years,  her  manufacturing  districts  have  sent 
forth,  and  are  issuing  out  full  bands  of  Luddites,  and 
Spenseans,  and  jacobins,  and  anarchists,  and  rebels,  and 
assassins ;  that  continually  put  to  the  test  the  strength, 
and  strain  the  nerves  of  her  government.  See  the 
"  Resources  of  the  British  Empire,"  pp.  140 — 154,  for 
the  state  of  British  manufactures. 

But  as  the  introduction  of  manufactures  into,  and 
their  extended  increase  in  a  country,  generally  promise 
large  profits  to  speculators  and  capitalists,  it  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  the  mere  circumstance  of  manufac- 
tures being  destructive  of  the  virtue,  health,  and  happi- 
ness of  the  labourers  employed  in  them,  will  ever  be  of 
sufficient  weight  to  deter  any  nation  from  introducing 
and  establishing  these  nurseries  of  individual  wealth, 
and  wide-spread  poverty,  among  themselves,  whenever 
an  opportunity  shall  occur.  The  wages  of  labour  in 
the  United  States  are  at  least  one  hundred  per  cent, 
higher  than  in  England,  and  quadruple  those  of  France ; 
and  yet  the  agricultural  products  of  this  country  find  a 
profitable  market  in  Europe.  While  the  expense  of 
erecting  and  continuing  manufacturing  establishments 
is  such  as,  in  many  instances,  to  disable  them  from  com- 
peting with  those  of  Europe,  unless  protected  by  boun- 
ties, prohibitory  duties,  and  a  monopoly.  The  cause 
of  these  apparently  contradictory  effects  is  to  be  found 
in  the  vast  quantity  and  low  price  of  our  new  and  fertile 
lands.  One  man  is  able  to  spread  his  agricultural 
labour  over  a  much  wider  surface  of  soil  in  the  immense 
regions  of  America,  than  can  be  done  in  the  compara- 
tively small  and  circumscribed  districts  into  which  the 
European  farms  are  necessarily  divided,  on  account  of 
the  narrow  limits  of  territory,  coupled  with  a  crowded 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  55 

population.  Hence,  although  the  system  of  agriculture 
in  the  United  States  is  less  perfect,  and  less  productive 
on  a  given  quantity  of  ground  than  in  some  parts  of 
Europe  ;  yet  the  far  wider  range  of  land  under  cultiva- 
tion (about  three  times  as  many  acres  as  make  up  the 
whole  superficies  of  the  British  isles,)  produces  annually 
a  more  abundant  crop,  in  mass,  to  the  industry  of  a 
given  number  of  proprietors. 

Formerly  some  of  our  leading  politicians  professed  to 
think  it  more  adviseable  for  the  United  States  to  prose- 
cute the  labours  of  agriculture,  than  to  attempt  to  force 
manufactures  into  a  premature  and  pernicious  existence. 
Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  "  Notes  on  Virginia,"  strenuously 
labours  this  point,  and  pathetically  deprecates  the  hour 
when  the  American  people  shall  be  converted  from  ro- 
bust and  virtuous  farmers  into  sickly  and  profligate 
manufacturers.  But  he  has  lately  altered  his  opinion, 
as  appears  from  his  recent  letter  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Society  for  encouraging  American  Manufactures,  in 
which  he  seems  to  have  forgotten  all  his  former  excla- 
mations in  favour  of  agriculture,  and  all  his  "  J erermades" 
against  manufactures.  In  order  to  accomplish  their 
purpose,  this  Society,  consisting  of  manufacturers  all 
over  the  Union,  is  continually  beseeching  and  besieging 
Congress  to  exclude  all  foreign  goods  from  the  United 
States,  and  give  them  a  monopoly  of  the  Ameiican  mar- 
ket; that  is,  in  other  words,  to  lay  a  heavy  tax  upon  all 
the  other  classes  of  the  community,  the  farmers,  clergy, 
lawyers,  merchants,  physicians,  and  all  the  labouring 
orders,  that  a  few  manufacturers,  about  a  hundredth  part 
of  the  whole  population,  may  enrich  themselves  by  sell- 
ing to  their  fellow-citizens  bad  goods,  at  a  much  greater 
price  than  they  could  import  far  better  commodities 
from  Europe. 

This  is,  in  fact,  checking  the  growth  of  the  wealth 
and  population  of  the  United  States,  by  at  least  all  the 
difference  bet  wen  the  monopoly  price  of  American 
manufactures  and  the  fair  competition  price  of  imported 
European  goods  ;  to  do  which  might,  indeed,  be  very 
good  patriotism,  but  it  is  certainly  very  bad  policy.  The 


eg  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

United  States  having  but  recently  commenced  their  na- 
tional career,  and  looking  forward  to  many  ages  of  im- 
provement and  growth,  should  be,  above  all  other 
countries,  particularly  careful  to  avoid  the  errors  of  the 
European  mercantile  system;  errors  which  sprang  up 
amidst  the  darkness  and  ignorance  of  feudal  despotism; 
and  which  all  the  most  distinguished  political  philoso- 
phers of  the  present  age  unite  to  condemn.  The  United 
States,  therefore,  should  resolutely  cast  from  off  their 
shoulders  all  the  shackles  of  bounties,  protections,  pro- 
hibitions, and  monopolies ;  and  permit  agriculture,  com- 
merce, and  manufactures  to  find  the  legitimate  level  of 
unimpeded  competition,  and  to  employ  just  so  much  of 
the  productive  industry  and  capital  of  the  country  as 
individual  inclination  and  interest  might  require  ;  with- 
out any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  government, 
which  ever  acts  the  wisest  part,  when  it  suffers  all  the 
various  classes  of  the  community  to  manage  their  own 
affairs  in  their  own  way.  Laissez  nous  faire  was  the  re- 
ply of  the  French  merchants  to  M.  Colbert,  when  he 
attempted  to  build  up  the  dilapidated  commerce  of 
France,  by  ministerial  intermeadling  with  what  no 
minister  can  possibly  either  direct  or  understand,  so 
•well  as  the  merchants  themselves. 

Besides,  every  free  country  manufactures  as  fast  as 
its  wants  and  interests  demand;  because  every  coun- 
try, as  well  as  every  individual,  prefers  a  home  to  a  fo- 
reign market,  for  the  purposes  of  barter,  sale,  and 
purchase.  Nevertheless,  the  interests  of  agriculture 
are  quite  inadequate  to  contend  with  the  spirit  of  en- 
croachment and  monopoly  so  inherent  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  manufactures.  Manufacturers  enjoy  a  great 
advantage  over  the  farmers,  who  are  scattered  thinly 
throughout  the  country,  in  the  facility  of  combining  to- 
gether, and  acting  in  large  bodies,  so  as  to  compel  the 
government  to  listen  to  their  complaints.  Their  stand- 
ing committees,  and  eternal  clamour  about  the  dignity 
of  patriotism,  and  the  necessity  of  not  depending  on 
foreign  nations  for  articles  of  use  and  convenience,  are 
always  an  overmatch  for  the  yeomen,  who,  widely 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  57 

separated  from  each  other,  cannot  act  in  such  close 
concert,  nor  with  such  efficient  activity  and  perse- 
verance. Add  to  which,  many  of  the  Members  of  Con- 
gress, themselves  farmers,  and  therefore  peculiarly  re- 
presenting the  agricultural  interests,  are  deeply  en- 
gaged in  manufactures  and  banks ;  whence  they  are  not 
so  clear-sighted  to  the  evils  of  a  monopoly,  on  the  part 
of  the  manufacturers,  as  they  otherwise  might  be. 

During  the  late  war  with  England,  manufactures 
thrived  in  the  United  States,  precisely  because  they 
had  a  monopoly  of  the  home  market,  and  compelled 
the  consumer  to  pay  above  a  hundred  per  cent,  more 
for  goods  of  an  inferior  quality  to  those  which  might 
have  been  imported  from  Europe,  at  half  the  price,  if 
our  ports  had  been  open  for  the  admission  of  foreign 
commodities.  At  that  period  there  was  a  capital  of 
about  %  1,000,000,000  employed  in  carrying  on  American 
manufactures ;  but  on  the  return  of  peace,  the  influx  of 
European  goods  reduced  the  price  to  at  least  one  half, 
and  stopped  perhaps  more  than  half  of  the  manufactur- 
ing establishments  in  the  Union ;  so  that  the  capital 
now  employed  in  American  manufactories  scarcely 
reaches  the  sum  of  five  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 
Nevertheless,  our  manufacturers  are  convinced,  that 
continuing  this  war  monopoly,  and  compelling  the  Ame- 
rican people  to  pay  a  double  price  for  all  their  articles 
of  consumption,  would  materially  promote  the  national 
welfare  of  the  United  States.  Whether  or  not  the 
general  government  is  to  be  borne  down  by  this  inces- 
sant clamour,  and  sacrifice  the  interests  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  community  to  those  of  a  very  small  portion  of  that 
community,  remains  yet  to  be  seen.  The  President,  in 
his  Message  of  the  2d  of  December,  says,  "  Our  manu- 
factures will  require  the  continued  attention  of  Con- 
gress ;  the  capital  employed  in  them  is  considerable, 
and  the  knowledge  acquired  in  the  machinery  and  fabric 
of  all  the  most  useful  manufactures  is  of  great  value ; 
their  preservation,  which  depends  on  due  encouragement, 
is  connected  with  the  high  interests  of  the  nation," 

8 


gg  ^       RESOURCES  OF'  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Few  nations,  however,  can  boast  of  skill  and  inge- 
nuity in  manufactures,  and  especially,  improvements  in 
labour-saving  machinery,  equal  to  those  which  have 
been  exhibited  and  discovered  in  the  progress  of  the 
mechanical  arts  in  the  United  States.  The  causes  of 
this  superior  ingenuity  and  skill  are  various.  The  high 
price  of  labour,  and  the  comparative  scarcity  of  labour- 
ers, offer  a  continual  bounty  of  certain  and  immediate 
remuneration  to  all  those  who  shall  succeed  in  the  con- 
struction of  any  machinery  that  may  be  substituted  in 
the  place  of  human  labour.  Add  to  this,  the  entire 
freedom  of  vocation  enjoyed  by  every  individual  in  this 
country.  Here  there  are  no  compulsory  apprenticeships  ; 
no  town  and  corporation  restraints,  tying  each  man 
down  to  his  own  peculiar  trade  and  calling,  as  in  Eu- 
rope— the  whole,  or  nearly  the  whole  of  which  still  la- 
bours under  this  remnant  of  feudal  servitude.  In  the 
United  States  every  man  follows  whatever  pursuit,  and 
in  whatever  place,  his  inclination,  or  opportunity,  or  in- 
terest, prompts  or  permits;  and  consequently  a  much 
greater  amount  of  active  talent  and  enterprise  is  em- 
ployed in  individual  undertakings  here  than  in  any  other 
country.  Many  men  in  the  United  States  follow  various 
callings,  either  in  succession  or  simultaneously.  One 
and  the  same  person  sometimes  commences  his  career 
as  a  farmer,  and,  before  he  dies,  passes  through  the 
several  stages  of  a  lawyer,  clergyman,  merchant,  con- 
gressman, soldier,  and  diplomatist.  There  is  also  a 
constant  migration  hither  of  needy  and  desperate  talent 
from  Europe,  which  helps  to  swell  the  aggregate  of 
American  ingenuity  and  invention — and  the  European 
discoveries  in  art  and  science  generally  reach  the 
United  States  within  a  few  months  after  they  first  see 
the  light  in  their  own  country,  and  soon  become  amal- 
gamated with  those  made  by  Americans  themselves. 

For  information  respecting  the  manufactures  of  the 
United  States,  the  reader  is  referred  to  General  Hamil- 
ton's "  Report  on  the  subject  of  Manufactures,"  made 
in  the  year  1791,  when  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  59 

sury,  in  consequence  of  an  order  of  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives. It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  this  is 
one  of  the  ablest  State-Papers  which  ever  came  from 
the  pen  of  man.  See  also  the  list  of  American  patents, 
published  by  order  of  Congress;  Mr.  Tench  Coxe's 
"  View  of  the  United  States ;"  Mr.  Fessenden's  "  Re- 
gister of  the  Arts;"  Dr.  Redman  Coxe's  "  Emporium 
of  the  Arts  and  Sciences,"  and  Mr.  Pitkin's  "  Statistics 
of  the  United  States." 

The  following  very  slight  summary  of  American  ma- 
nufactures is  all  that  the  limits  of  the  present  work  will 
allow. 

What  the  present  annual  value  of  manufactures  in 
the  United  States  is,  has  not  been  ascertained;  but, 
before  the  peace  of  1815,  had  reduced  their  monopoly 
price,  and  diminished  the  number  of  manufacturing 
establishments,  their  yearly  value  was  estimated  thus : 

Manufactures  of  Wood % 25,000,000 

Leather 24,000,000 

Soap  and  Tallow  Candles  10,000,000 

Spermaceti  Candles  &  Oil  500,000 

Refined  Sugar 1,600,000 

Cards 300,000 

Hats 13,000,000 

Spirituous  and  malt  liquors  14,000,000 

Iron 18,000,000 

Cotton,  Wool,  and  Flax  . .  45,000,000 


Making  a  total  of. $151,400,000 

Of  this  amount  nearly  the  whole  is  consumed  at 
home,  as  appears  from  the  following  table  of  exports : 


GO 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Years. 

EXPORTS  OF  MANUFACTURES. 

Total  of  both. 

From  domestic  mate- 
rials. 

From  foreign  mate- 
rials. 

1803 

$    790,000 

$565,000 

%  1,350,000 

1804 

1,650,000 

450,000 

2,100,000 

1805 

1,579,000 

721,000 

2,300,000 

1806 

1,889,000 

818,000 

2,707,000 

1807 

1,652,000 

468,000 

2,120,000 

1808 

309,000 

35,000 

344,000 

1809 

1,266,000 

240,000 

1,506,000 

1810 

1,359,000 

558,000 

1,917,000 

1811 

2,062,000 

314,000 

2,376,000 

1812 

1,135,000 

220,000 

1,353,000 

1813 

372,000 

18,000 

390,000 

1814 

233,200 

13,100 

246,000 

1815 

1,321,000 

232,000 

1,553,000 

1816 

1,415,000 

340,000 

1,755,000 

The  manufactures  from  foreign  materials  are,  spirits 
from  molasses ;  refined  sugar;  chocolate;  gunpowder; 
brass  and  copper,  and  medicines.  The  manufacture  of 
wool  is  extending  rapidly  in  the  United  States.  The 
Merino  breed  thrives  well  in  this  climate,  and  their 
number  is  augmenting  fast  throughout  the  Union.  .  The 
whole  number  of  sheep  already  reaches  nearly  twenty 
millions,  and  is  continually  increasing.  The  British 
Isles  maintain  about  thirty  millions  of  sheep ;  only  one- 
third  more  than  the  American  sheep,  of  all  kinds,  taken 
together — and  the  United  States  can  easily  support 
twenty  times  their  present  number.  In  the  articles  of  iron 
and  hemp,  and  more  especially  hemp,  the  United  States, 
probably,  will  soon  be  independent  of  Russia  and  the 
rest  of  the  world.  The  culture  of  hemp  succeeds  in 
many  parts  of  the  Union,  especially  in  Kentucky,  which, 
in  one  year,  produced  upwards  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  hundred-weight,  valued  at  $700,000, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  61 

and  made  also,  in  the  same  year,  forty  thousand  hundred- 
weight of  cordage,  valued  at  $400,000,  making  a  mil- 
lion and  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  these  two 
articles.  The  manufacture  of  cotton  increases  rapidly 
here ;  and  the  quantity  consumed  in  the  country,  on  the 
average  of  the  years  1811,  1812,  and  1813,  exceeds 
twenty  millions  of  pounds  weight. 

The  manufactures  of  wood  are  household  furniture, 
carriages  of  every  kind,  and  ship-building,  and  pot  and 
pearl  ashes.  The  manufactures  of  leather  are  boots, 
shoes,  harness,  and  saddles.  Soap  and  tallow  candles 
are  manufactured  both  in  establishments  and  in  fami- 
lies. Cotton,  wool,  and  flax  are  manufactured  both 
in  establishments  and  in  families.  Iron  abounds  in 
the  United  States;  fifty  thousand  tons  of  bar  iron  are 
consumed  annually,  of  which  forty  thousand  are  ma- 
nufactured at  home,  and  ten  thousand  imported. 
Sheet,  slit,  and  hoop  iron  are  almost  wholly  of  home 
manufacture;  as  are  cut  nails,  three  hundred  tons  of 
which  are  annually  exported.  Cutlery,  and  the  finer 
specimens  of  hardware  and  steel  work,  are  still  im- 
ported from  Britain.  Of  the  copper  and  brass  manu- 
factured, the  zinc  is  chiefly,  and  the  copper  wholly,  im- 
ported. Of  the  tin  ware,  the  sheets  are  all  imported. 
Lead  is  made  into  shot ;  and  colours  of  lead,  red  and 
white  lead,  are  imported  to  a  large  amount.  Plated 
ware  is  made  in  large  quantities  in  Philadelphia,  New- 
York,  Boston,  Baltimore,  and  Charleston.  The  manu- 
facture of  gunpowder  nearly  supplies  the  home  market, 
as  do  coarse  earthenware,  window  glass,  glass  bottles, 
and  decanters.  About  a  million  bushels  of  salt  are 
manufactured  annually,  and  three  times  that  quantity 
imported.  White  crockery  ware  is  said  to  be  made  in 
Philadelphia  of  as  good  quality  as  any  in  England. 

Saltpetre  is  manufactured  largely  in  Virginia,  Ken- 
tucky, Massachusetts,  East  and  West  Tennesse.  Su- 
gar from  the  maple-tree  is  produced  in  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
Vermont,  and  East  Tennessee,  to  the  amount  of  nearly 
ten  millions  of  pounds  weight  annually.  West  Tennes- 
see and  Vermont  afford  abundance  of  good  copperas. 


go  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Twenty-five  millions  of  gallons  of  ardent  spirits  are 
annually  distilled,  and  annually  consumed  in  the  United 
States.  Four  hundred  water  and  horse-mills,  working 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  spindles,  are  em- 
ployed in  spinning  cotton.  The  fulling-mills  amount  to 
two  thousand;  and  the  number  of  looms  exceeds  four 
hundred  thousand,  and  the  number  of  yards  of  cloth, 
manufactured  from  wool,  cotton,  and  flax,  is  about  one 
hundred  millions.  There  are  three  hundred  gunpow- 
der-mills ;  six  hundred  furnaces,  forges,  and  bloomeries, 
and  two  hundred  paper-mills. 

In  the  State  of  Vermont  the  chief  manufactures  are 
of  iron,  lead,  pipe-clay,  marble,  distilleries,  maple-sugar, 
flour,  and  wool.  In  Massachusetts,  the  principal  ma- 
nufactures are  duck,  cotton,  woollen,  cut-nails,  (by  a 
machine  invented  in  Newburyport,  and  capable  of  cut- 
ting two  hundred  thousand  in  a  day.)  paper,  cotton 
and  Avool  cards,  playing  cards,  shoes,  silk  and  thread 
lace,  wire,  snuff,  oil,  chocolate  and  powder-mills,  iron- 
works, and  slitting-mills,  and  mills  for  sawing  lumber, 
grinding  grain,  and  fulling  cloth,  distilleries,  and  glass, 
in  Rhode-Island  are  manufactured  cotton,  linen,  and 
tow  cloth,  iron,  rum,  spirits,  paper,  wool  and  cotton 
cards,  spermaceti,  sugar,  machines  for  cutting  screws, 
and  furnaces  for  casting  hollow-ware.  In  Connecticut 
are  manufactured  silk,  wool,  card-teeth,  (bent  and  cut 
by  a  machine  to  the  number  of  eighty-six  thousand  in 
an  hour,)  buttons,  linen,  cotton,  glass,  snuff,  powder, 
iron,  paper,  oil,  and  very  superior  fire-arms.  In  New- 
York  are  manufactured  wheel  carriages  of  all  kinds, 
the  common  manufactories,  refined  sugar,  potter's  ware, 
umbrellas,  musical  instruments,  glass,  iron,  and  steam- 
boats. In  New-Jersey  are  numerous  tanneries,  leather 
manufactories,  iron-works,  powder-mills,  cotton,  paper, 
copper  mines,  lead  mines,  stone  and  slate  quarries.  In 
Pennsylvania  there  are  valuable  collieries  on  the  Lehigh 
river,  distilleries,  rope-walks,  sugar-houses,  hairpowder 
manufactories,  iron  founderies,  shot  manufactories, 
steam-engines,  mill  machinery,  the  pneumatic  cock  for 
tapping  air-tight  casks,  hydrostatic  blow-pipe,  type- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  £3 

founderies,  improvements  in  printing,  and  a  carpet 
manufactory.  In  Delaware  there  are  cotton  and  bolt- 
ing-cloth and  powder  manufactories,  fulling,  snuff,  slit- 
ting, paper,  grain,  and  saw-mills.  In  Maryland  are 
iron-works,  collieries,  grist-mills,  glass-works,  stills,  pa- 
per-mills, and  cotton.  In  Virginia  there  are  lead-mines, 
which  yield  abundantly,  iron  mines,  copper  mines,  vast 
collieries,  and  marble  quarries.  In  Kentucky  are  ma- 
nufactured cotton,  wire,  paper,  and  oil.  In  Ohio  ship- 
building is  carried  to  a  great  extent ;  indeed,  in  this 
branch  of  manufactures  the  Americans  generally  surpass 
the  mechanics  of  all  other  countries.  In  North  Caro- 
lina the  pitch-pine  affords  excellent  pitch,  tar,  turpen- 
tine, and  lumber;  there  are  also  iron-works,  and  a 
gold  mine,  which  has  furnished  the  Mint  of  the  United 
States  with  a  considerable  quantity  of  virgin  gold.  In 
South  Carolina  there  are  gold,  silver,  lead,  blacklead, 
copper  and  iron  mines,  as  also  pellucid  stones  of  differ- 
ent hues,  coarse  cornelian,  variegated  marble,  nitrous 
stone  and  sand,  red  and  yellow  ochres,  potter's  clay, 
fuller's  earth,  and  a  number  of  die-stuffs,  chalk,  crude 
alum,  sulphur,  nitre,  and  vitriol.  In  Georgia  the  ma- 
nufactures are  indigo,  silk,  and  sago.  In  Louisiana  are 
manufactured  cotton,  wool,  cordage,  shot,  and  hair- 
powder. 

Of  the  many  places  in  the  Union  well  adapted  for 
manufacturing  establishments,  it  is  sufficient,  at  present, 
to  notice  the  few  following : — The  town  of  Patterson, 
in  the  State  of  New-Jersey,  is,  perhaps,  as  excellently 
situated  for  this  purpose  as  any  spot  in  the  world.  Thfe 

falls  of  the  Passaic  river  afford  every  convenience  that 

.  .  .  •'i . 

water  can  give  to  put  in  motion  machinery  to  any  ex- 
tent. In  1791,  a  Manufacturing  Company  was  incorpo- 
rated by  the  New-Jersey  Legislature,  with  great  privi- 
leges. A  subscription  for  the  encouragement  of  every 
kind  of  manufacture  was  opened,  under  the  patronage 
of  the  Secretary  of  State  ;  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars were  subscribed,  and  works  erected  at  the  falls  of 
the  Passaic.  During  the  late  war,  the  Patterson  manu- 
factures flourished,  and  were  rendered  profitable  to  the 


g^  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

proprietors  by  their  monopoly  price.  Since  the  peace 
they  have  declined  considerably ;  but  there  still  remain 
some  valuable  cotton  and  paper  manufactories ;  and  so 
admirable  is  the  situation  of  the  place,,  that  manufac- 
tures cannot  fail  to  flourish  there  as  fast  and  as  abundantly 
as  the  wants,  and  inclination,  and  interest  of  the  United 
States  demand.  The  manufacture  of  sugar,  from  the 
cane,  thrives  well ;  and  is  increasing  rapidly  in  Louisi- 
ana and  Georgia. 

There  is  no  part  of  the  world,  probably,  where,  in 
proportion  to  its  population,  a  greater  number  of  inge- 
nious mechanics  may  be  found  than  in  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  its  immediate  neighbourhood;  or  where, 
in  proportion  to  the  capital  employed,  manufactures 
thrive  better;  and  certainly,  more  manufacturing  capi- 
tal is  put  in  motion  in  that  than  in  any  other  city  of  the 
Union.  The  town  of  Wilmington,  and  its  vicinity,  in 
the  State  of  Delaware,  are,  for  their  size,  the  greatest 
seats  of  manufactures  in  the  United  States ;  and  are 
capable  of  much  improvement,  the  country  being  hilly 
and  abounding  with  running  water.  The  Brandy  wine 
river  might,  at  a  comparatively  small  expense,  be  car- 
ried to  the  top  of  the  hill  on  which  Wilmington  is  situa- 
ted, and  make  a  fall  sufficient  to  supply  fifty  mills,  in 
addition  to  those  already  built.  The  town  of  Pitts- 
burgh, in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  situated  beyond 
the  Alleghany  hills,  on  the  confluence  of  the  Morionga- 
hela  and  Alleghany  rivers,  where  their  junction  forms 
the  Ohio,  promises,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  to  be- 
£ome  the  Birmingham  of  America.  It  has  coal  in  all 
abundance,  and  of  a  very  superior  quality ;  its  price  is 
not  quite  three  pence  sterling  a  bushel.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  whole  tract  of  country  between  the  Laurel 
Mbuntairi,  Mississippi,  and  Ohio,  yields  coal.  Pitts- 
burgh, in  addition  to  various  other  manufactures,  is  said 
to  make  glass  bottles,  tumblers,  and  decanters,  of  equal 
quality  to  any  that  are  imported  from  Europe.  It  has 
an  inland  navigation,  interrupted  only  by  the  falls  at 
Louisville,  of  two  thousand  four  hundred  miles  down 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  to  New-Orleans,  and  an  inex- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  (55 

haustible  market  for  its  manufactures  in  all  the  States 
and  settlements  on  the  borders  of  those  mighty  rivers. 
But  the  most  extraordinary,  and  most  important 
manufacture  in  the  United  States,  and  perhaps  in  the 
world,  is  that  of  steamboats  ;  for  an  interesting  and  in- 
structive account  of  which  the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr. 
Colden's  valuable  Life  of  Mr.  Fulton.  A  very  few  facts 
and  observations  are  all  that  can  find  a  place  here. 
Without  entering  into  the  dispute,  respecting  the 
mechanicians  who  first  applied  the  force  of  steam  to 
the  purposes  of  navigation,  it  is  certain  that  no  one 
applied  it  successfully,  prior  to  Mr.  Fulton  ;  the  proof  of 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  since  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  scheme  in  the  United  States,  the  use  of 
steamboats  has  become  common  in  Europe;  whereas, 
before  that  period,  the  attempts  to  propel  boats  by 
steam,  in  that  quarter  of  the  world,  were  eminently 
vain  and  fruitless.  Great  numbers  of  steamboats  have 
been  launched  in  Britain  within  a  few  years  past;  yet 
the  principles  on  which  they  are  navigated,  do  not  ap- 
pear to  be  fully  understood  in  that  country,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  accounts  given  by  those  who  have  seen 
and  travelled  in  them,  and  by  some  recent  publications 
on  this  subject.  In  the  year  1807,  the  first  steamboat 
plied  between  the  cities  of  New-York  and  Albany;  and 
since  that  time,  this  mode  of  navigation  has  been  used 
with  great  success  in  many  other  rivers  of  the  Union 
besides  the  Hudson:  nay,  steamboats  now  ascend  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  rivers,  hitherto  nearly  unnavigable, 
except  in  the  direction  of  their  currents.  The  facility, 
economy,  and  despatch  of  travelling,  are  all  wonderfully 
augmented  by  steam  navigation,  the  same  distance  being 
now  covered  in  less  than  half  the  time  formerly  required  ; 
Albany  is  brought  within  twenty-fours  of  New-York, 
instead  of  averaging  three  days  by  water,  and  two  days 
by  land.  The  following  table  shows  the  great  benefit 
derived  to  the  traveller  from  this  invention;  and  the 
cheapness  of  travelling,  since  food  as  well  as  convey- 
ance is  included. 

9 


66 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATE*. 


Expense. 

Hours. 

Mile* 

From  Philadelphia  to    New-  York,  by  > 

gio 

13 

96 

New-York  to  Albany,  by  steamboat 
Albany  to  Whitehall,  by  stages  
Whitehall  to  St.  John's,  by  steam-  > 
boat  $ 

7 
8 

9 

24 
12 

26 

160 
70 

150 

St.  John's  to  Montreal  

3 

4 

37 

Montreal  to  Quebec,  by  steamboat 

10 

24 

186 

$47 

103 

699 

In  the  spring  of  1817,  a  steamboat  reached  Louisville, 
in  Kentucky,  from  Pittsburgh,  in  Pennsylvania,  dropping 
down  the  Ohio.  She  displayed  her  power  by  different 
tacks  in  the  strongest  current  on  the  falls,  and  returned 
over  the  falls,  stemming  the  current  with  ease.  About 
the  same  time  a  large  steamboat  reached  Louisville 
from  New-Orleans,  laden  with  sugar,  coffee,  wines, 
queensware,  raisins,  fur,  sheet  lead,  &c.  Her  freight 
exceeded  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  So  that  now 
the  western  waters  can  be  ascended  to  any  navigable 
point ;  and  the  commerce  of  the  west  is  falling  fast  into 
its  natural  channel.  The  use  of  steam,  applied  to  na- 
vigation, has  so  effectually  removed  those  obstacles 
which  the  length  and  rapidity  of  the  Mississippi  pre- 
sented to  boats  propelled  by  personal  labour  alone,  that 
a  voyage  from  Louisville  to  New-Orleans  and  back 
again,  a  distance  of  three  thousand  four  hundred  miles, 
can  be  performed  in  thirty-five  or  forty  days ;  and  the 
property  freighted  is  infinitely  less  liable  to  damage,  and 
is  transported  at  less  than  one-half  the  cost  of  the  route 
across  the  mountains.  Hence  it  does  not  seem  extrava- 
gant to  expect,  that,  in  due  time,  steamboats  will  find 
their  way  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  into  our  great  inland 
seas,  by  the  junction  of  the  waters  of  the  Hudson  river 
and  Lake  Erie ;  and,  from  the  lakes,  will  carry  their 
treasures  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Finances,  SCc.  of  the  United  States. 

J_T  is  the  duty  of  every  free  government  to  train  its 
people  gradually  to  bear  a  due  weight  of  internal  taxa- 
tion, in  order  to  raise  an  ample  revenue  for  the  purposes 
of  national  defence,  of  internal  improvement,  01  reward- 
ing long-tried,  faithful  public  services,  and  the  encou- 
ragement and  patronage  of  literature,  arts,  and  science. 
On  extraordinary  emergencies,  as  the  sudden  breaking 
out  of  war,  or  the  necessity  of  sustaining  a  protracted 
conflict  against  a  powerful  enemy,  a  liberal  use  should  be 
made  of  the  funding  system ;  because  a  national  debt, 

Erovided  it  be  not  so  great  as  to  impede  the  productive 
ibour  of  the  community,  is  the  best  possible  mode  of 
combining  immediate  active  and  vigorous  efforts  on  the 
part  of  a  country  with  the  means  of  future  developement 
and  growth ;  it  is,  in  fact,  the  only  scheme  by  which  a 
nation  can  make  great  present  exertions  without  de- 
stroying its  future  resources.  It  is  worse  than  childish, 
it  is  insane  policy  to  trust,  for  the  public  revenue,  alto- 
gether to  the  customs,  or  duties  upon  imported  foreign 
goods,  (I  say  imported  only,  because  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution prohibits  the  laying  any  duty  on  exports  from 
the  United  States,) — which  a  single  year  of  maritime 
warfare  may  destroy.  This  is  too  contingent,  too  pre- 
carious a  source  of  revenue  on  which  to  stake  the  ope- 
rations of  government,  and  to  balance  the  movements 
of  the  public  Weal.  The  customs  of  England,  although 
consisting  of  duties  both  on  imports  and  exports,  do 
not  make  one-tenth  of  her  public  revenue ;  she  wisely 
leans  upon  internal  taxation  as  the  main  prop  and  sup- 
port of  her  government  expenditure. 


gg  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  these  United  States,  the  Washington  administra- 
tion, under  the  auspices  of  Hamilton  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  as  the  great  founder  of  the  system  of  Ameri- 
can finance,  as  the  wise  parent  of  public  credit  in  this 
country,  laid  the  foundation  of  an  internal  revenue  by 
moderate  and  judiciously-imposed  taxes.     The  first  act 
of  Mr.  Jefferson's  practical  ministry  was  to  abolish  the 
whole  of  this  system,  and  leave  the  public  revenue  to 
rest  altogether  upon  the  customs.     Mr,  Madison  sedu- 
lously clung  to  this  same  feeble   and  dastardly  policy, 
long  after   the  failure  of  revenue,   the  bankruptcy  of 
the  government,  and  the  necessities  of  the  country,  had 
proved  its  entire  fallacy  and  folly.     Towards  the  close 
of  the  last  war,  his  party,  reluctantly  and  fearfully,  laid 
some  internal  taxes  on  land,  houses,  and  manufactures, 
not  amounting,  in  the  whole,  to  ten  millions  of  dollars  ; 
a  considerable  portion  of  which  they  have  actually  re- 
pealed since  the  peace.     Mr.  Munroe  has  a  noble  op- 
§ortunity  of  being,  in  fact,  a  President  of  the  United 
tates,  and  not  merely  the  leader  of  a  dominant  faction  j 
and  if  he  be  wise  to  consult  the  real  interests  of  the 
Union,  he  will  at  once  labour  resolutely  to  establish  a 
permanent  system  of  internal  taxation,  sufficiently  ample 
for  all  present   purposes,  and   containing   in  itself  the 
germs  of  a  gradual  increase,  keeping  equal  pace  with 
the  growing  resources,  wealth,  and  population  of  the 
United  States.     The  revenue  of  a  state,  so  far  as  re- 
gards national  power,  prosperity,  strength,  and  great- 
ness, is  emphatically  the  State  ;  and  a  government,  whose 
income  is  scanty  and  precarious,  cannot  fail  to  become 
nerveless   and   despicable.      Since    this  hope  was  ex- 
pressed, Mr.  Munroe  has,   actually,  in  his  Message  of 
2d   December,   1817,   recommended  to  Congress   the 
repeal  of  all  internal  taxes ! 

There  is,  indeed,  an  awful  tendency  in  all  parties  of 
the  American  people  towards  what,  by  a  miserable  mis- 
nomer, is  called  economy ;  as  if  a  system,  which  pre- 
vents the  government  from  calling  out  the  resources  of 
the  country,  from  rewarding  its  public  servants,  from 
preserving  a  commanding  attitude  in  respect  to  foreign 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  gg 

potentates,  were  not  the  most  pernicious  prodigality ! 
The  proceedings  in  Congress,  during  the  two  last 
winters,  were,  in  this  point  of  view,  portentous.  The 
reduction  of  the  direct  tax,  from  six  to  three  millions  of 
dollars,  and  the  limitation  of  those  three  millions  to  only 
one  year,  are  fearful  omens  of  the  entire  extinction  of 
that  tax.  Nay,  in  the  month  of  February  last,  a  propo- 
sition was  made  to  abolish  all  the  internal  taxes;  a 
scheme,  say  its  advocates,  that  failed  only  because  it 
was  introduced  too  late  in  the  session ;  and  which  may 
be  carried  into  a  law,  by  a  triumphant  majority,  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  national  legislature. 

The  reduction  of  the  regular  army  probably  would 
follow,  as  a  matter  of  course,  on  the  repeal  of  the  in- 
ternal taxes.  Indeed,  it  was  proposed  in  the  Senate 
last  spring,  on  ihe  ground  that  ten  thousand  soldiers  are 
dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  American  people ;  and, 
therefore,  should  be  diminished  to  five  thousand.  Bri- 
tain has  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
men,  stationed  at  home,  in  France,  and  in  colonial  gar- 
risons ;  besides  her  militia,  amounting  to  two  hundred 
thousand,  and  her  Sepoy  troops  in  the  East-Indies,  rated 
at  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  And  yet,  no  man  in 
his  sober  senses  believes  that  the  liberties  of  the  Bri- 
tish people  are  endangered  by  this  standing  army. 
The  liberties  of  England  are  not  about  to  expire  under 
the  pressure  of  her  military,  or  the  encroachments  of 
her  government;  if  they  are  to  perish,  they  will  perish 
under  the  daggers  of  her  democracy :  if  she  is  to  be 
blotted  out  from  the  list  of  independent  and  powerful 
nations,  she  will  be  erased  from  that  high  scroll  by  the 
paricidal  hand  of  her  own  rabble,  led  on  to  their  own 
and  their  country's  perdition  by  anarchial  reformers, 
who  are  alike  bankrupt  in  fortune, "reputation,  charac- 
ter, and  principle.  But  we  have  no  occasion  to  enter- 
tain such  fears  at  present;  for,  while  the  sovereign 
governs  under  the  benignant  influence  of  the  laws; 
while  the  people  are  free ;  while  religion,  morals,  in- 
telligence, learning,  science,  industry,  enterprise,  and 
valour  continue  to  make  England  their  favoured  abode. 


7Q  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  sun  of  her  national  glory  can  never  set,  but  will 
burn  with  brighter  and  still  brighter  light,  until  all  the 
ages  of  time  shall  be  lost  in  the  profound  of  eternity. 
The  standing  army  of  Britain  may  be  too  numerous, 
and  too  expensive  for  the  present  dilapidated  state  of 
her  finances ;  but,  in  regard  to  the  liberties  of  her  peo- 
ple, it  is  utterly  harmless  and  innocent. 

How  much  more  a  fortiori  then  must  the  liberties  of 
the  American  people  be  secure,  under  the  presence  of 
ten  thousand  men,  mostly  native  citizens,  and  com- 
manded by  officers,  whose  courage,  loyalty,  and  talents 
have  been  displayed  on  the  battle-field,  and  have  re- 
ceived the  reward  of  their  country's  gratitude  ?  This 
little  army  is  divided  and  stationed  in  garrison  along  the 
Atlantic  coast,  from  the  District  of  Maine  to  St.  Mary's, 
in  Georgia,  a  distance  of  nearly  two  thousand  miles, 
and  on  the  west,  from  the  lakes  to  New-Orleans,  a  dis- 
tance still  greater.  The  American  citizens  are  intelli- 
gent, well  educated,  and  awake  to  the  preservation  of 
their  liberties  ;  every  where  armed,  and  trained  to  the 
use  of  arms,  and  comprising  a  militia  of  nearly  a  million 
of  free  men.  Are  such  a  country,  and  such  a  people, 
in  jeopardy,  as  to  their  freedom,  from  the  existence  of 
a  standing  army  of  ten  thousand  men  ? 

Upon  what  ground  of  political  forecast  and  wisdom 
is  it,  that  so  many  Members  of  Congress,  and  so  large 
a  portion  of  the  people  out  of  the  national  legislature, 
seem  bent  upon  lessening  the  defences  of  the  country ; 
and  that  too,  precisely  at  the  moment  when  the  United 
States,  by  their  rapid  augmentation  in  greatness,  and  by 
the  peculiar  condition  of  the  world,  which  has  thrown 
all  Europe  into  the  hands  of  three  or  four  powerful 
sovereigns,  and  which  forbids  the  very  existence  of 
any  weak  or  nerveless  government,  are  more  than 
ever  exposed  to  disturbance  in  their  foreign  relations  ? 
Against  all  saving  of  mere  money,  at  the  expense  of 
national  dignity  and  strength,  it  behooves  the  American 
government  to  contend  with  all  its  influence,  power, 
and  vigilance.  And,  unless  the  government  gradually 
train  its  people  to  bear  the  weight  of  due  taxation,  how 


*.  .  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  17  j 

can  it  expect  their  adequate  support  in  a  fierce  and 
protracted  struggle  for  national  superiority,  or  sove- 
reignty, or  existence  ?  Are  the  people  of  the  United 
States  prepared,  now,  for  such  a  conflict,  as  the  British 
people  have,  with  so  much  courage,  and  wisdom,  and 
perseverance,  endured  for  five  and  twenty  years,  and 
finally  conducted  to  so  triumphant  an  issue  ?  A  con- 
flict which,  at  the  expense  of  seven  hundred  millions  of 
pounds  sterling,  and  of  three  hundred  thousand  lives, 
nas  broken  down  the  power  of  revolutionary  France, 
and  rescued  Europe,  America  herself,  and  the  whole 
world,  from  impending  bondage  ? 

If  not,  how  are  they  to  acquire  such  habits  of  endur- 
ing patriotism  and  loyalty  ?  When  the  danger  comes, 
it  will  be  too  late  j  it  will  then  be  in  vain  to  appeal  to 
the  fears  and  hopes  of  the  people,  to  talk  of  forced 
loans,  and  of  conscriptions,  of  requisitions  of  men  and 
money.  The  government  alone  can  inspire  such  high 
and  heroic  habits  into  the  people,  by  a  wisely  adjusted 
system  of  internal  taxation,  which,  increasing  with  the 
augmenting  wealth  and  population  of  the  Union,  will 
enable  government  to  call  out,  either  on  a  sudden,  or 
for  a  continuance,  all  the  resources  of  the  country, 
whether  for  the  purposes  of  defence  or  offence,  when- 
ever the  interests  of  the  nation  may  require.  Not  a 
moment  ought  to  be  lost  in  laying  the  foundation  of 
such  a  system ;  to  frame  which  may  well  employ  the 
deepest  reflection  of  our  ablest  legislators  and  finan- 
ciers ;  that  the  taxes  shall  be  so  laid  as  not  to  obstruct 
the  progress  of  productive  labour,  nor  divert  capital 
from  its  legitimate  objects,  but  leave  all  individual  ef- 
fort free  to  find  the  advantages  of  unrestrained  compe- 
tition in  every  allowable  pursuit. 

The  banking  capital  of  the  United  States  exceeds  a 
hundred  millions  of  dollars.  In  most  of  the  States  there 
are  several  chartered  Banks  for  the  purposes  of  dis- 
count and  deposit.  The  United  States  Bank  has  a 
capital  of  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars — of  which  the 
general  government  is  a  stockholder  to  the  amount  of 
seven  millions,  and  appoints  five  out  of  twenty-five 


*P2  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATLS, 

Directors,  twenty  being  chosen  annually  by  the  stock- 
holders at  large.  The  influence  which  government  has 
over  this  Bank  will  greatly  facilitate  all  its  moneyed 
operations  in  future,  both  in  war  and  in  peace.  The 
intrinsic  benefits  which  banking  institutions  afford  to 
every  commercial  community,  are  too  well  known  to 
require  any  minute  elucidation.  The  youthful  student 
will  find  those  benefits  fully  displayed  in  Sir  James 
Stuart's  work  on  political  economy ;  Dr.  Smith's 
"  Wealth  of  Nations,"  and  in  Mr.  Thornton's  admirable 
Treatise  on  Paper  Credit. 

The  national  debt  of  the  United  States  at  present 
does  not  amount  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of 
dollars.  The  expense  of  the  revolutionary  war,  which 
gave  independence  and  sovereignty  to  America,  was 
upwards  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  millions  of 
dollars.  About  one-half  of  this  expense  was  paid  by 
taxes,  levied  and  collected  during  the  war,  and  the 
residue  remained  a  debt  due  from  the  United  and  the 
separate  States  on  the  return  of  peace,  in  1783.  The 
advances  made  from  the  American  Treasury  were  prin- 
cipally in  paper,  called  Continental  Money,  which,  ul- 
timately, depreciated  so  much  that  one  thousand  dollars 
would  not  buy  more  than  one  dollar  in  silver;  but  the 
specie  value  of  the  debt,  independently  of  the  paper 
depreciation,  amounted  in  April,  1783,  to  $42,000,375, 
and  the  annual  interest  to  $2,415,956.  The  interest, 
however,  was  not  paid  under  the  old  confederation, 
and  in  1790,  the  debt  amounted  to  $54,124,464,  and 
the  State  debts,  including  interest,  were  estimated  at 
$25,000,000.  Mr.  Hamilton,  the  first  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  after  the  establishment  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, advised  the  general  government  to  assume 
the  whole  of  this  debt,  both  state  and  continental, 
amounting  to  $79,000,000,  and  bearing  an  annual  in- 
terest of  $4,587,444,  but  Congress  assumed  only 
$21,500,000  of  the  debts  of  the  several  States,  which 
were  appropriated  to  each  State.  On  the  31st  day  of 
December,  1794,  the  sum  total  of  the  unredeemed  debt 
was  $76.096.468. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  73 

Provision  was  made  by  law,  first  for  paying  the  in- 
terest, and  then  for  the  redemption  of  the  capital  of  the 
debt.  For  the  payment  of  the  interest,  the  permanent 
duties  on  imported  articles,  the  tonnage  duties,  and 
duties  on  spirits  distilled  within  the  United  States,  and 
on  stills,  after  reserving  $600,000  for  the  support  of 
the  general  government  and  the  national  defence,  were 
appropriated  and  pledged.  The  Sinking  Fund,  for  the 
redemption  of  the  debt,  was  placed  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  President  of  the  Senate,  the  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States,  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  and  the  Attorney  General,  for  the 
time  being,  as  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund, 
which  consisted  of  the  surplus  of  the  duties  on  imports 
and  tonnage  to  the  end  of  the  year  1770;  the  proceeds 
of  loans,  not  exceeding  $2,000,000;  the  interest  on  the 
public  debt,  purchased,  redeemed,  or  paid  into  the 
Treasury,  together  with  the  surplusses  of  moneys  ap- 
propriated for  interest;  and,  lastly,  the  avails  of  the 
public  lands.  The  amount  of  debt  purchased  by  the 
Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  up  to  the  31st  of 
December,  1794,  was  $2,265,022.  In  March,  1795, 
Congress  made  considerable  additions  to  the  income  of 
the  Sinking  Fund,  and  appropriated  and  vested  them  in 
the  Commissioners,  in  trust,  till  the  whole  debt  should 
be  redeemed. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1800,  the  total  debt,  funded 
and  temporary,  of  the  United  States,  amounted  to 
$79,433,820;  the  debts  contracted  by  the  general 
government  from  the  year  1790  to  1800,  being 
$10,786,100,  and  the  debts  discharged  during  that 
time  being  $8,164,232.  The  causes  of  the  augment- 
ation of  the  debt  were  the  extraordinary  expenses  in- 
curred in  the  wars  with  the  Indians;  $1,250,000  ex- 
pended in  suppressing  two  insurrections  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, on  account  of  the  tax  on  whiskey ;  more  than 
$1,500,000  spent  in  the  transactions  of  the  United 
States  with  Algiers  and  the  other  Barbary  powers,  and 
the  still  greater  expenses  occasioned  by  the  disputes 
with  revolutionary  France,  in  1798  and  1799.  On  a 

10 


74  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

change  of  administration,  in  1801,  the  Sinking  Fund  was 
modified  anew,  and  on  the  28th  of  April,  1802,  Con- 
gress enacted,  that  $7,300,000  should  be  appropriated 
annually  to  the  Sinking  Fund ;  which  was  to  be  ap- 
plied first  to  paying  the  interest  and  principal  of  the 
public  debt.  In  1803,  the  amount  of  debt  was  a  little 
more  than  $70,000,000,  of  which  $32,119,211  were 
owned  by  foreigners — by  the  English,  $15,882,797; 
the  Dutch,  $13,693,918;  other  foreigners,  $2,542,495. 
Of  the  residue,  particular  States  owned  $5,603,564 ; 
incorporated  bodies  in  the  United  States,  $10,096,398; 
individuals,  $22,330,606. 

In  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  the  United  States  paid 
the  French  government  $15,000,000;  of  which 
$3,750,000  were  to  be  paid  to  the  American  mer- 
chants, for  their  claims  on  that  government,  and 
$11,250,000  to  be  paid  in  stock,  at  six  per  cent. — the 
interest  payable  in  Europe,  and  the  principal  payable 
in  four  equal  annual  instalments,  the  first  becoming  due 
in  1818.  By  the  act  of  Congress,  10th  Nov.  1803, 
creating  this  stock,  $700,000  annually  was  added  to 
the  Sinking  Fund,  making  its  income  $8,000,000. 
After  the  United  States  had  concluded  peace  with 
France,  in  1800,  the  vast  increase  of  their  revenues, 
arising  from  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage,  owing  to  a' 
rapidly  increasing  population,  and  an  unparalleled  ex- 
tension of  commerce,  enabled  them  to  pay  off  a  large 
proportion  of  the  debt,  which  on  the  1st  January,  1812, 
was  $45,154,489;  the  payments  in  redemption,  from  the 
1st  of  April,  1801,  to  Jan.  1,  1812,  being  $46,022,810. 
During  this  period  no  additional  tax  was  laid,  except  a 
duty  of  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  on  goods  imported, 
paying  ad  valorem  duties.  The  sums  received  from 
1801  to  1811,  inclusive,  and  applicable  to  the  pay- 
ment of  the  interest  and  principal  of  the  debt  was 
about  $90,000,000. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1812,  Mr.  Madison  and  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  declared  war  against  Eng- 
land, about  the  same  time  that  Bonaparte  left  France 
with  an  army  of  five  hundred  thousand  men,  for  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  75 

purpose  of  subjugating  Russia,  and  completing  his  con- 
tinental system  for  the  destruction  of  the  British  Em- 
pire, in  anticipation  of  their  war  on  England,  Congress, 
by  an  act  of  the  14th  March,  1812,  authorized  a  loan 
of  #11,000,000,  of  which  were  obtained  $10,184,700; 
certain  Banks  loaning  $2,150,000,  and  the  residue, 
being  $8,034,700,  was  funded.  About  half  of  this  resi- 
due was  obtained  from  Banks,  the  rest  from  individuals. 
In  1813,  the  Sinking  Fund  redeemed  $324,200  of  this 
stock.  On  the  8th  of  Jan.  1 81 3,  a  loan  of  $  1 6,000,000 
was  authorized,  which  sum  was  obtained,  principally 
frorn'individuals,  at  the  rate  of  88  for  100  dollars;  that 
is,  for  every  88  dollars  paid  in  money  a  certificate  of 
stock  for  100  dollars  was  issued,  bearing  an  interest  of 
six  per  cent.  The  stock  issued  for  this  loan  amounted 
to  $18,109,377,  giving  a  bonus  to  the  lenders  of 
$2,109,377.  By  an  act  of  August  2,  1813,  a  further 
loan  of  $7,500,000  was  authorized,  which  was  raised, 
by  giving  for  every  100  dollars  received  stock  to  the 
amount  of  $  1 1 3rVo,  at  six  per  cent.  The  stock  issued 
on  this  loan  was  $8,498,583,  allowing  a  bonus  of 
$998,583.  On  the  24th  of  March,  1814,  a  loan  of 
$25,000,000  was  authorized,  of  which  only  $11,400,000 
was  raised,  and  for  which  $14,262,351  of  stock  was 
issued,  making  a  bonus  of  $2,852,000. 

The  terms  of  these  loans  were  so  disastrous  to  the 
government,  so  clearly  indicating  its  want  of  credit, 
and  the  price  of  stocks  so  depressed,  as  to  be  sold  at 
69  and  70,  for  cash,  a  depreciation  of  30  per  cent.,  that 
no  more  was  raised  of  the  $25,000,000  loan,  and  Trea- 
sury Notes  were  issued  to  make  up  the  deficiency.  On 
all  these  loans,  the  money  received  by  government  was 
only  $42,934,700,  for  which  $48,905,012  of  stock  was 
issued,  makin^a  difference  of  $5,970,312  against  the 
United  States  Treasury.  In  addition  to  this,  New-York 
and  Philadelphia  lent  government  money,  for  which 
$1,100,009  of  stock  was  issued,  making  the  whole  stock 
funded  on  these  loans  to  be  $50,105,022.  Treasury 
Notes  were  issued  to  the  amount  of  $18,452,800.  The 
•ascertained  debt  incurred  by  the  late  war,  on  the  20th 


7g  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  February,  1815,  was  $68,783,622,  to  which  add  the 
old  debt  of  $39,905,183,  and  the  total  is  $108,688,805, 
to  which  must  be  added  outstanding  debts  to  the  amount 
of  $13,000,000,  and  the  whole  debt  of  the  United 
States  is  only  $121,688,805.  On  the  24th  of  February, 
1815,  the  issue  of  $25,000,000  of  Treasury  Notes  was 
authorized;  on  the  3d  of  March,  1815,  a  loan  of 
$18,452,800  was  authorized  to  be  made  in  the  Trea- 
sury Notes  previously  issued. 

The  Sinking  Funa  consists  of  an  annual  appropri- 
ation of  $8,000,000,  arising  from  the  interest  of  the  debt 
redeemed,  amounting  in  1813,  to  $1,932,107;  from  the 
sales  of  public  lands,  equal  in  that  year  to  $830,671,  and 
from  the  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage.  For  the  na- 
ture of  the  British  Sinking  Fund,  and  wherein  it  differs 
from  that  of  the  United  States,  see  "  The  Resources  of 
the  British  Empire,"  p.  236,  et  seq.  The  American 
Sinking  Fund  had  redeemed  of  the  national  debt,  on 
the  1st  of  January,  1814,  $33,873,463.  In  March, 
1817,  the  Sinking  Fund  income  was  raised  to  ten  mil- 
lions of  dollars. 

The  revenues  of  the  United  States,  previous  to  the 
late  war  against  England,  were  derived  from  duties  and 
taxes  on  imports,  tonnage  of  ships  and  vessels,  spirits 
distilled  within  the  United  States,,  and  stills,  postage  of 
letters,  taxes  on  patents,  dividends  on  Bank  stock, 
snuff  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  sugar  refined 
here,  sales  at  auction,  licenses  to  retail  wines  and  dis- 
tilled spirits,  carriages  for  the  conveyance  of  persons, 
stamped  paper,  direct  taxes,  and  sales  of  public  lands. 
The  revenues  have  been  chiefly  derived  from  duties  on 
imports  and  tonnage.  Internal  taxes  were  laid  at  dif- 
ferent periods,  by  the  Washington  administration,  but 
were  all  discontinued  by  an  act  passed  in  April,  1 802, 
under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  On  the  14th  of 
July,  1798,  a  direct  tax  of  $2,000,000  was  laid  upon 
the  United  States,  and  was  the  only  direct  tax  imposed 
previous  to  the  late  war.  The  customs  consist  of  du- 
ties on  imports  and  tonnage,  and  of  moneys  for  pass- 
ports, clearances,  light-money,  &c.  The  gross  amount 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  77 

of  the  customs  is  what  accrues  on  the  importation  of 
merchandise  ;  the  net  amount  is  what  remains  after  de- 
ducting the  drawbacks  on  the  exportation  of  the  same 
merchandise ;  and  drawbacks  on  domestic  spirits  ex- 
ported, on  which  a  duty  has  been  paid,  and  bounties  and 
allowances  for  the  fisheries,  and  on  the  exportation  of 
salted  provisions,  am/,  after  deducting  the  expenses  of 
prosecution  and  collection.  The  amount  is  secured  to 
government  by  bonds  payable  at  different  periods,  ac- 
cording to  the  term  of  credit  given  to  the  importer. 

The  amount  of  the  actual  receipts  from  the  Customs, 
from  the  4th  of  March,  1789,  the  commencement  of  the 
government,  to  the  30th  of  June,  1816,  was, 


In  1791 $  4,399,472 

1792 3,443,070 

1793 4,255,306 

1794 4,801,065 

1795 5,588,461 

1796 6,567,987 

1797 7,549,649 

1798 7,106,061 

1799 6,610,449 

1800 9,080,932 

1801 10,750,778 

1802 12,438,235 

1803 10,479,417 

From  the  1st  of  January  to  the 


In  1804 $1 1,098,565 

1805 12,936,487 

1806 14,667,698 

1807 15,845,521 

1808 16,363,550 

1809 7,296,020 

1810 8,583,309 

1811 13,313,222 

1812 8,958,777 

1813 13,224,623 

1814 5,998,772 

1815 7,282,942 

30th  of  June,  1816,  $15,426,951 


The  double  duties  made  the  amount  for  1815  so 
large;  the  Custom-house  bonds  became  due,  on  an 
average,  the  year  after  the  importation  of  the  goods ; 
which  explains  the  low  amount  of  customs  for  the  years 
1809 — 1810;  they  being  the  fruits  of  the  embargo, 
which  was  suspended  in  1809  ;  and,  in  consequence,  af- 
forded a  rich  harvest  to  the  Treasury  in  1811.  In 
1810  the  restrictive  system  was  again  enforced,  and 
produced  the  famine  of  1812  to  the  exchequer.  The 
small  amount  of  the  year  1814  was  owing  to  the  war, 
commenced  in  June,  1812,  and  terminated  in  February, 
1815.  The  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
(the  late  Mr.  Dallas,)  for  the  year  1816,  states,  that  on 


73  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  12th  of  February,  1816,  the  whole  of  the  public 
debt,  funded  and  floating,  was  $123,630,692;  but,  on 
the  1st  of  January,  1817,  did  not  exceed  $  1 09,748,272  ; 
reducing  the  debt,  from  the  12th  of  February,  1816,  to 
the  1st  of  January,  1817,  $13,882,420. 

The  appropriations  and  payments  for  1816  were 

Demands  on  the  Treasury  for  that  year  by  appropriations  $32,475,303 


tiz. — For  civil  department,  foreign  intercourse,  and 

miscellaneous  expenses 3,540,770 

Military  department,  current 

expenditure $7.794,250 

Arrearages 8,935,373 

16,729,623 

Naval  establishment 4,204,911 

Public   debt 8,000,000 


Payments  at  the  Treasury,  to  the  1st  of  August,  1816.. .$26,332,174 

For  civil  department,  &c 1,829,015 

Military     do.        current  ex- 
penditure     $4,285,236 

Arrearages 8,935,372 

13,220,608 

Naval  department 1,977,788 

Public  debt,  (adding  to  the  appropriation  of 
1816  part  of  the  balance  of  appropria- 
tion of  1815,) 9,354,752 

Leaving  an  unexpended  balance  of  the  annual  appro- 

.    priatiou,  on  the  1st  of  August,  1816,  of. $  6,143,129 

To  which  add  the  part  surplus  of  the  appropriation  of 

1815,  used  for  the  sinking  fund 1,354,762 

And  the  whole  balance  is $  7,497,891 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  79 

The  actual  receipts  of  the  Treasury,  for  1816,  were, 

The  Cash  Balance  in  the  Treasury,  (excluding  Trea- 
sury Notes,)  1st  January,  1816 $  6,298,652 

Customs,  for  seven  months,  from  the  1st  of  Jan.  to 
the  last  of  August,  1816,  without  allowing  for  de- 
bentures on  drawback,  estimated  at  $1,829,564,  21,354,743 
Direct  Tax,  including  the  assumed  quotas  of  New- 
York,  Ohio,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  for     '. 

the  direct  tax  of  1816 3,713,963 

Internal  duties 3,864,000 

Postage,  and  incidental  receipts 127,025 

Sales  of  public  lands,  ^excluding  $211,440  re- 
ceived in  the  Mississippi  Territory,  and  pay- 
able to  Georgia,) 676,710 


Receipts  in  revenue,  from  the  1st   of  January  to 

the  1st  of  August,  1816 $36,035,093 

Loans,  by  funding  and  issuing  Treasury 
Notes 9,790,825 


Gross  receipts  from  the  1st  of  January  to  the  1st 
of  August,  1816 45,825,918 

Estimated  receipts,  from  the  1st  of  August  to  the 
31st  of  December,  1816 . 19,876,710 


Gross  annual  receipts  for  1816 , $65,702,628 


• 

80  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Probable  receipts  compared  with  probable  expendi- 
tures of  1816. 

The  gross  annual  receipt  for  1816 $65,702,631 

Appropriation  for  1816 $32,475,303 

Excess,  above  the  appropriation 6,270,395 

Unsatisfied  appropriations  of  1815 7,972,277 

46,717,975 


Balance  of  receipts  for  1816 18,984,656 

Deduct  Loans  and  Treasury  Notes 9,790,821 

Ultimate  surplus  for  1816 $  9,193,835 

Customs  from  March,  18 15,  to  July  1816,  both  inclusive,  $28,271,143 
Debentures  during  the  same  period 2,624,421 

Product  of  Customs,  exclusive  of  collection $25,646,722 

Customs  from  March  to  December,  1815,  both  inclusive,  $  6,916,399 
Debentures  during  the  same  period 794,857 

Product  of  Customs,  exclusive  of  collection $  6,121,542 

Customs  from  January  to  July,  1816,  both  inclusive... ...$21,354,743 

Debentures  during  the  same  period 1,829,564 

Product  of  Customs,  exclusive  of  collection $19,525,179 


New- York  Customs,  from  March,  1815,  to  July  1816, 

both  inclusive $9,926,188 

Philadelphia .' 5,085,206 

Boston 3,579,130 

Baltimore 3,339,101 

Charleston 1,047,546 

New-Orleans 732.083 

Savannah 521^287 

Norfolk 491,150 


The  duties  remained  nearly  the  same  from  1802  to 
1812,  except  the  additional  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  on 
merchandise  imported,  paying  duties  ad  valorem,  which 
constituted  the  Mediterranean  fund :  whence  the  great 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  gj 

increase  of  duties  from  1802  to  the  commencement  of 
the  restrictive  system,  was  owing,  chiefly,  to  the  increas- 
ed population  and  consumption  of  the  country,  and  the 
prosperous  state  of  American  commerce,  until  destroyed 
by  the  embargo.  On  the  1st  of  July,  1812,  one  hundred 
per  cent,  was  added  to  all  the  permanent  duties,  which 
was  to  continue  during  the  war  against  England,  and  one 
year  thereafter.  This  increased  the  rate  of  duties,  ad 
valorem,  to  40,  30,  and  25  per  cent. 

Soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, in  1789,  duties  on  American  spirits  and  stills 
were  laid ;  other  internal  taxes  were  afterward  laid ; 
but  were  all  repealed  in  1802.  The  sums  paid  on  these 
internal  taxes,  from  their  commencement  to  September 
30th,  1812,  was  $6,460,003— of  which  $1,048,033  were 
paid  in  1801 ;  and  in  1812,  only  $4,903.  The  States 
which  paid  the  largest  proportions  of  the  internal  taxes 
were  Massachusetts,  $232,566;  New-York,  $143,757; 
Pennsylvania,  $209,545;  Virginia,  $115,444.  Although 
these  internal  duties  were  repealed  in  1802,  their  col- 
lection has  never  yet  been  completed.  On  the  1st  of 
January,  1812,  the  balances  due  on  the  internal  reve- 
nue, in  the  several  States,  amounted  to  $254,940. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  thirteenth  Congress,  held 
in  the  summer  of  1813,  internal  duties  were  laid  on 
licenses  for  stills  and  boilers,  carriages  for  conveyance 
of  persons,  licenses  to  retailers  of  foreign  merchandise, 
wines,  and  spirituous  liquors,  on  sales  at  auction,  re- 
fined sugar,  and  stamped  paper.  The  amount  of  the 
tax  was  about  double  its  former  rate  on  most  of  these 
articles,  and  three  times  that  amount  on  licenses  to  re- 
tailers. The  original  plan  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment, and  adopted  by  Congress,  was  to  carry  on  the  war 
by  loans  ;  and  to  provide  no  more  revenue  than  might 
be  sufficient  to  defray  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  go- 
vernment, to  pay  the  interest  of  the  existing  public  debt, 
and  of  new  loans,  amounting  to  about  $9,000,000, 
which  were  to  be  raised  by  doubling  the  duties  on  im- 
ports, and  laying  twenty  cents  a  bushel  on  salt;  by 
sales  of  public  lands  ;  by  direct  tax  of  $3.000,000;  and 

11 


82  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

$2,000,000  by  a  tax  on  stills,  spirits,  refined  sugar* 
licenses  to  retailers,  sales  at  auction,  carriages,  and 
stamp  paper.  These  taxes,  however,  were  not  per- 
mitted to  commence  until  the  1st  of  January,  1814. 
The  sums  raised  by  these  internal  taxes,  exclusive  of 
the  direct  tax,  for  the  two  first  quarters  of  1814,  amount- 
ed to  $2,212,491  ;  for  the  two  last  quarters,  to 
$1,000,000.  On  the  19th  of  September,  1814,  addi- 
tional duties  were  laid  on  spirits,  licenses  to  retailers, 
carriages,  sales  at  auction,  and  stamped  paper. 

During  the  same  session,  Congress  also  imposed  du- 
ties on  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  manufactured 
within  the  United  States,  as  iron,  candles,  hats  and  caps, 
paper,  umbrellas  and  parasols,  playing  and  visiting 
cards,  saddles  and  bridles,  boots  and  shoes,  beer,  ale 
and  porter,  tobacco,  snuff  and  segars,  leather,  gold  and 
silver  plated-ware,  jewellery,  paste-work,  household 
furniture,  and  gold  and  silver  watches. 

The  amount  of  internal  duties,  accruing  in 

1814,  was $3,262,197 

Deduct  duties,  refunded  or  remitted 11,793 

And  expense  of  collection 148,991 

The  amount  paid  into  the  Treasury,  in 

1814,  was  only 1,762,003 

In  1815,  the  internal  duties,  accruing, 

amounted  to 6,242,503 

Deduct  duties  refunded,  &c.  $126,769,  and 

collection  expense 279,227 

The  amount  paid  into  the  Treasury,  in 

1815;  was 4,697,252 

The  amount  paid  from  the  1st  of  January 

to  the  30th  June,  1816,  was 3,241,427 


Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1815,  the  duties 
on  manufactures,  household  furniture,  gold  and  silver 
watches,  and  spirits  distilled  within  the  United  States, 
were  repealed,  as  were  the  additional  duties  on  postage, 
and  retail  licenses.  The  internal  duties,  remaining  in 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  Q3 

1817,  are  duties  on  licenses  for  stills  and  boilers,  to  re- 
tailers, on  carriages,  refined  sugar,  sales  at  auction, 
stamp  paper,  and  bank  notes. 

Most  of  these  internal  duties,  especially  those  on 
manufactures,  were  laid  upon  the  articles  ad  valorem  ; 
and  both  the  value  and  quantity  of  the  articles  manufac- 
tured is  made  to  depend,  principally,  on  the  books  and 
oaths  of  the  manufacturer,  or  those  employed  by  him. 
The  multiplication  of  oaths  is  bad  policy  in  any  govern- 
ment ;  it  is,  in  fact,  offering  a  perpetual  bounty  to  one 
of  the  worst  species  of  immorality — that  of  false  swear- 
ing. All  the  world  knows  what  a  latitude  of  conscience 
custom-house  oaths  imply  in  England,  in  France,  in  Hol- 
land, in  these  United  States,  and  in  every  commercial 
community ;  and  our  American  government  now  adds 
to  this  mass  of  evil,  by  a  new  incitement  to  perjury,  in 
collecting  its  duties,  on  manufactures,  upon  me  oaths  of 
those  persons  who  are  most  directly  interested  to  falsi- 
fy the  returns. 

On  the  14th  of  July,  1798,  the  first  direct  tax,  amount- 
ing to  $2,000,000  was  laid  upon  the  United  States,  and 
apportioned  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  the  fourth  clause  of  the  ninth  section  of  the 
first  Article  of  which  declares,  that  no  capitation  or 
other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion  to  the 
census  or  enumeration,  directed  by  the  third  clause  of 
the  second  section  of  the  first  Article ;  namely,  repre- 
sentatives and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among 
the  several  States,  according  to  their  respective  num- 
bers, determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of 
free  persons,  (including  those  bound  to  service  for  a 
term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,)  three- 
fifths  of  all  other  persons  ;  the  actual  enumeration 
to  be  made  once  in  every  ten  years.  By  marking  the 
apportionment  of  direct  taxes  at  different  periods,  the 
relative  growth  of  the  population  of  the  several  States 
during  those  periods,  may  be  distinctly  ascertained.  In 
1 798,  the  two  millions  of  dollars,  direct  tax,  were  thus 
apportioned  among  the  States : 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


New-Hampshire  %  77,705 

Massachusetts . .  260,435 

Rhode-Island   ..  37,504 

Connecticut  ....  129,767 

Vermont 46,864 

New- York 181,681 

New-Jersey  ....  98,387 

Pennsylvania    ..  237,178 


Delaware %  30,430 

Maryland 152,600 

Virginia 345,488 

Kentucky 37,643 

North  Carolina  193,698 

South  Carolina  112,997 

Georgia 38,815 

Tennessee..    ...       18,807 


This  tax  was  laid  upon  all  dwelling-houses,  lands, 
and  slaves,  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  fifty,  within 
the  United  States. 

The  number  of  acres,  valued  under  the 

Act,  was  163,746,688,  valued  at $479,293,264 

Number  of  dwelling-houses,  above  $100, 

276,695,  valued  at 140,683,984 


Total  lands  and  houses $61 9,977,248 


The  slaves  enumerated  were  393,2 1 9.  The  pro- 
portion assessed  upon  houses  was  $47 1,989,  on  land, 
$1,327,713;  on  slaves,  $196,610.  In  some  of  the 
States  the  valuations  were  not  completed  until  three  or 
four  years  after  the  tax  was  laid ;  and  from  the  date  of 
its  imposition  to  the  30th  of  September,  K812,  a  period 
of  fourteen  years,  only  $1,757,240  of  this  tax  were 
paid  into  the  Treasury  ;  and  large  balances  are  still 
due,  now,  towards  the  close  of  1817.  A  second  direct 
tax  was  laid,  on  the  2d  of  August,  1813,  to  the  amount 
of  3,000,000 ;  and  thus  apportioned  among  the  States, 
according  to  the  census  01  1810: 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


New-Hampshire  $  96,793 

Massachusetts..  3  i  6,271 

Rhode-Island   ..  34,750 

Connecticut....  118,168 

Vermont 98,344 

New-York 430,142 

New- Jersey....  108,872 

Pennsylvania    ..  365,479 

Delaware  ..  32,047 


Maryland $1 51,624 

Virginia 369,018 

Kentucky 168,929 

Ohio.. 103,151 

North  Carolina  220,238 

South  Carolina  151,906 

Tennessee 110,087 

Georgia. 94,937 

Louisiana  .  28,925 


This  apportionment  shows,  that  from  1798  to  1813, 
the  States  of  New-York,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  and  Tennes- 
see, have  made  the  most  rapid  growth  in  population ; 
and  that  the  New-England  States,  particularly  Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode-Island,  and  Connecticut,  have  aug- 
mented their  numbers  very  slowly.  Delaware  is  nearly 
stationary  ;  while  the  rest,  especially  Georgia,  Virginia, 
Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania,  are  increasing  their  num- 
bers with  sufficient  speed  and  force. 

This  tax  was  laid  and  assessed  on  the  value  of  all 
lands  and  lots  of  ground,  with  their  improvements, 
dwelling-houses,  and  slaves ;  all  of  which  articles  were 
to  be  enumerated  and  valued  by  the  assessors,  at  the 
rate  each  of  them  were  worth  in  money.  In  the  year 
1814,  the  lands  and  houses  of  the  States  of  New-Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts,  Vermont,  Rhode-Island,  Connec- 
ticut, and  New-York,  were  valued  at  $559,270,622 ;  in 
1799,  at  $283,651, 885;  making  an  increased  value  in 
fifteen  years  of  $275,9 18,738  in  six  States.  In  Mary- 
land, Delaware,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee,  the  in- 
creased value  of  lands,  houses,  and  slaves,  between 
1799  and  1814,  was  %  365,000,000.  In  the  whole  United 
States  the  increased  value  exceeded  %  1,000,000,000. 
The  States  of  New-Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio,  assumed 
their  proportion  of  the  tax.  and  were  allowed  a  discount 
of  fifteen  per  cent. 


gg  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

They  paid  into  the  Treasury,  as  their  re- 
spective quotas  $1,159,796 

The  non-assuming  States  had  paid  up  to  De- 
cember 31, 1815 1,210,000 


Total $2,369,796 


Leaving  an  arrearage  of. %    630,204 


The  aggregate  valuation  of  houses,  lands,  and  slaves, 
in  the  United  States,  under  these  acts,  exceeded 
$2,000,000,000,  of  which  the  slaves  make  $400,000,000, 
the  lands  and  houses  more  than  $1,600,000,000;  giving 
an  increase  of  one  thousand  millions  of  dollars  between 
1799  and  1815.  But,  doubtless,  this  is  a  very  great 
undervaluation,  especially  in  relation  to  the  Southern 
and  Western  States.  In  New- York,  the  increase, 
during  these  fifteen  years,  has  been  from  one  to  three 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  ;  in  Pennsylvania,  from  one 
hundred  and  twenty  to  three  hundred  and  seventy 
millions. 

The  average  value  of  land  per  acre,  including  the 
buildings  thereon,  throughout  the  United  States,  is  ten 
dollars.  In  particular  States  it  varies ;  as  for  example, 
in  New-Hampshire,  $9;  Massachusetts,  $18;  Rhode- 
Island,  $40;  Connecticut,  $35;  Vermont,  $7;  New- 
York,  $17;  New-Jersey,  $35;  Pennsylvania,  $30;  De- 
laware, $13;  Maryland,  $20;  Virginia,  $5;  North 
Carolina,  $3  ;  South  Carolina,  $8 ;  Georgia,  $3  ;  Ken- 
tucky, $4;  Tennessee,  $5;  Louisiana,  $2 ;  Mississippi, 
$2;  Indiana,  $2;  Ohio,  $6. 

On  the  9th  of  January,  1815,  an  annual  direct  tax  of 
$6,000,000  was  laid,  to  be  assessed  like  that  of  1813, 
but  was  reduced  again  to  $3,000,000,  on  the  5th  of 
March,  1816. 

Since  the  opening  of  the  several  land-offices  for  the 
sale  of  public  lands  belonging  to  the  United  States,  in 
1796,  $8,437,531  have  been  received  from  the  pro- 
ceeds of  those  sales,  up  to  the  close  of  the  year  1814. 


^SOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


87 


The  whole  number  of  acres  sold  has  been,  during  that 
period,  5,385,467*;  the  whole  purchase-money  was 
$11,356,688;  leaving  nearly  $3,000,000  due  to  the 
Treasury.  There  are  yet  unsold  upwards  of  five  hun- 
dred millions  of  acres  of  public  lands,  lying  in  the  States 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Mississippi,  and  in  the  Territories 
of  Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Alabama,  and  in  the  Louis- 
iana purchase.  The  various  taxes  laid  in  1815,  were 
considered  as  war  taxes,  and  necessary  to  support  pub- 
lic credit.  The  whole  revenues  of  the  United  States 
were  at  that  time  upwards  of  twenty-one  millions  of 
dollars: — namely,  customs,  % 4,000,000 .;  internal  du- 
ties, %  10,1 59,000;  direct  tax,  86,000,000;  public  lands, 
$1,000,000— but  in  1816,  they  produced  $1,500,000. 

The  postage  of  letters  produces  a  net  revenue  of 
about  $100,000  to  the  Treasury. 

.  The  following  statement  shows  the  estimated  receipts 
and  expenditures  of  the  United  States,  at  different  pe- 
riods, viz. 


Years. 

Receipts. 

Expenditures. 

1791 

$  4,418,913 

$  1,718,129 

1795 

5,954,534 

4,350,596 

1800 

10,777,709 

7,411,369 

1808 

17,068,661 

6,504,338 

1809 

7,773,473 

7,414,672 

1818 

19,550,000 

18,850,000 

1819 

22,950,000 

22,880,000 

1820 

22,320,000 

22,910,000 

The  estimates  of  receipts  and  expenditure  for  the 
years  181 8,  1819,  and  1820,  were  made  by  the  Commit- 
tee of  Ways  and  Means.  The  net  amount  of  revenue 
received  in  1815,  was  $50,906,106;  being  from  cus- 
toms, $37,656,486;  internal  duties,  $5,963,225;  direct 
tax,  $5,728,152;  public  lands,  $1,287,959;  postage, 
&c.  $275,282. 


yy  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  President's  Message,  of  the  2d  of  December, 
1817,  states,  that  after  satisfying  the  appropriation  made 
by  law  for  the  support  of  the  civil  government,  military 
and  naval  establishments,  provision  for  fortifications, 
increase  of  the  nary,  paying  interest  of  public  debt, 
and  extinguishing  more  than  eighteen  millions  of  the 
principal  within  the  present  year,  a  balance  of  more 
than  six  millions  of  dollars  remains  in  the  Treasury,  ap- 
plicable to  the  current  service  of  the  ensuing  year. 
The  estimated  receipts  for  1818,  from  imports  and  ton- 
nage, amount  to  twenty  millions  of  dollars;  internal 
revenues,  two  millions  and  a  half;  public  lands,  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half;  Bank  dividends  and  incidental  receipts, 
half  a  million ;  making  a  total  of  twenty-four  millions 
and  a  half.  The  annual  permanent  expenditure  for 
the  support  of  the  civil  government,  army  and  navy,  as 
now  established  by  law,  amounts  to  eleven  millions, 
eight  'hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  for  the  Sinking 
Fund,  ten  millions,  leaving  an  annual  excess  of  revenue 
beyond  the  expenditure,  of  two  millions  seven  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  The  whole  of  the  Louisiana  debt 
may  be  redeemed  in  1819;  after  which,  if  the  public 
debt  continues  above  par,  five  millions  of  the  Sinking 
Fund  will  be  annually  unexpended  until  1825,  when 
the  loan  of  1812  and  the  stock  created  by  funding 
Treasury  Notes,  will  be  redeemable.  The  Mississippi 
stock  also  will,  probably,  be  discharged  during  1819, 
from  the  proceeds  of  public  lands ;  after  which  those 
proceeds  will  annually  add  to  the  public  revenue  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half,  making  the  permanent  yearly  revenue 
amount  to  twenty-six  millions  of  dollars,  leaving  an  ex- 
cess of  income,  above  the  expenditure,  of  more  than 
four  millions  of  dollars. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  his  report  of  the 
5th  of  December,  1817,  corroborates  this  statement, 
and  estimates  the  expenditure  of  the  year  1818,  at 
$21,946,351 ;  namely,  civil,  miscellaneous,  diplomatic, 
and  foreign  intercourse,  $2,069,843;  military  services, 
including  arrearages  of  half  a  million,  $6,265,132;  na- 
val service,  including  a  million  for  the  gradual  increase 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  39 

of  the  navy,  83,611,376;  public  debt,  810,000,000; 
leaving  a  balance  in  the  Treasury  of  88,578,648,  on 
the  1st  of  January,  1819. 

The  following  summary,  in  round  numbers,  will  con- 
vey a  tolerably  accurate  view  of  the  capital,  income,  and 
expenditure  of  the  United  States. 

Capital,  real  and  personal 87,200,000,000 

Income 360,000,000 

Expenditure,  United  States  $25,000,000 

The  States ....  20,000,000—    45,000,000 
National  debt  100,000,000 

The  capital  consists  in  realty,  of 

Public  lands,  500,000,000  of  acres,  at 

82  per  acre 81,000,000,000 

Cultivated  lands,  300,000,000  of  acres, 

at  $10  per  acre 3,000,000,000 

Dwelling-houses  of  all  kinds 1 ,000,000,000 

Total  of  real  property $5,000,000,000 

The  personal  property  of  the  United  States  consists 
of  the  national  debt,  which,  although  a  debt  on  the  part 
of  government,  is 

Capital   to   the  stockholders,  who   are 

American  citizens ,  $  1 00,000,000 

Banking  stock 100,000,000 

Slaves,  1,500,000,  at  $150  each 225,000,000 

Shipping  of  all  kinds 225,000,000 

Money,  farming  stock  and  utensils,  ma- 
nufactures, household  furniture,  plate, 
carriages,  and  every  other  species  of 
personal  property 1,550,000,000 

Total  of  personal  property $2,200,000,000 

real  property 5,000,000,000 

Grand  total  of  American  capital* $7,200,000,000 

*  See  General  Hamilton's  Reports  "  On  Public  Credit,"  and  "  On 
a  National  Bank ;"  Mr.  Gallatin's  "  Sketches  of  the  Finances  of 

12 


90 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Contrast  this  view  with  that  of  the  capital,  income, 
debt,  and  expenditure  of  any  European  nation,  and  it 
will  instantly  appear  how  much  greater  the  resources 
of  the  United  States  are,  in  proportion  to  their  popula- 
tion and  territory,  than  those  of  the  first-rate  powers  in 
Europe.  For  example, 

Capital,  real  and  personal  of  Britain.  .Si 8,000,000,000 

Income 900,000,000 

Expenditure 300,000,000 

Public  revenue  _  _ 230,000,000 

National  debt  $5,000,000,000,  less,  re- 
deemed by  sinking  fund  $1,400,000,000,  3,600,000,000 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  alarming  annual  deficit  in 
the  public  revenue  of  $70,000,000,  the  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer,  in  the  last  Budget,  (June,  1817,)  did 
not  hold  a  desponding  language,  but  stated,  that  he  did 
not  intend  to  reduce  the  interest  of  the  national  debt, 
nor  to  lessen  the  income  of  the  Sinking  Fund  below  the 
amount  to  which  he  had  cut  it  down,  in  1613;  which  at 
that  time  was  twelve  millions  sterling,  it  is  now  nearly 
fourteen.  The  Exchequer  bills,  issued  to  supply  the 
deficit,  bore  a  premium  of  five  per  cent,  and  an  interest 
of  only  three  and  a  quarter,  and  the  stocks  had  risen 
twenty  per  cent,  during  the  preceding  year,  and  the 
agriculture,  trade,  and  manufactures  of  the  whole  em- 
pire were  improving,  so  as  to  promise,  in  future,  a 
larger  public  revenue,  and  less  severe  pressure  upon 
the  people. 

For  the  facts  and  reasons,  given  at  length,  to  show  the 
necessity  and  importance  of  moneyed  institutions,  more 
especially  the  funding  system,  a  national  debt,  internal 
taxation,  and  a  national  bank,  in  order  to  stimulate  na- 
tional industry,  give  efficiency  and  strength  to  govern- 
ment, and  promote  the  prosperity  and  power  of  the 

the  United  States;"  the  Treasury  Reports  from  1790  to  1817; 
Mr.  Blodget's  "  Economics,"  and,  above  all,  the  second  edition  of 
Mr.  Pitkin's  "  Statistics  of  the  United  States." 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UiNITED  STATES  gj 

whole  community  in  every  free  country,  the  reader  is 
referred  to  the  "  Resources  of  the  British  Empire," 
pp.  234 — 306,  containing  a  full  account  of  the  rise, 
progress,  and  present  state  of  the  financial  system  of 
England.  This  system,  however,  may  be  pushed  too 
far,  by  stretching  the  public  expenditure  beyond  the 
power  of  taxation  to  furnish  an  adequate  income.  This 
appears  to  have  been  already  done  in  Britain,  where 
the  expenditure  for  1817,  was  £67,817,752,  and  the 
revenue  only  £52,850,328 ;  leaving  a  deficit  of  fifteen 
millions  sterling,  in  a  season  of  universal  peace.  The 
Finance  Committee  estimate  the  income  of  the  years 
1818  and  1819,  at  £50,000,000,  and  the  expenditure 
at  £65,216,657;  still  leaving  a  deficit  of  more  than  fif- 
teen millions  sterling,  annually. 

How  is  this  deficit  to  be  supplied  ?  Mr.  Vansittart, 
in  the  year  1813,  destroyed  the  progressive  force  of  the 
Sinking  Fund,  by  diverting  all  the  dividends  of  the 
stock  then  redeemed,  amounting  to  about  nine  millions 
sterling,  to  the  current  expenses  of  the  year,  instead  of 
leaving  it,  according  to  Mr.  Pitt's  plan,  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  national  debt,  to  swell  the  income  of  the 
Sinking  Fund,  which,  instead  of  being  nearly  twenty-five 
millions,  as  it  ought  to  have  been  in  the  year  1817,  was 
not  quite  fourteen  millions  sterling.  On  the  first  of 
January,  1818,  the  outstanding  or  unfunded  debt  of 
Britain  will  be  upwards  of  seventy  millions,  making  to- 
gether with  the  funded  debt,  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
millions,  of  which  nearly  four  hundred  millions  have  been 
redeemed  by  the  operation  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  from 
the  year  1786  to  1818,  a  period  of  thirty-two  years; 
during  which  time  seven  hundred  millions  have  been 

r 

added  to  the  debt.  So  that,  by  Mr.  Vansittart's  de- 
stroving  Mr.  Pitt's  plan  of  liquidating  the  debt,  by  the 
continual  progression  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  the  redemp- 
tion of  that  debt  seems  to  be  adjourned  sine  die,  since  it 
cannot  very  well  be  accomplished  by  paying  off  fourteen 
and  borrowing  fifteen  millions  a  year.  If  England  is 
compelled  to  augment  her  debt  annually,  in  time  of 
profound  peace,  what  is  she  to  do  in  the  event  of  an- 


92  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

other  war,  which  would  immediately  raise  her  expendi- 
ture from  sixty-five  to  a  hundred  millions  per  annum  ? 
During  the  last  war  with  revolutionary  France,  her 
Bank  paper  was  at  a  discount  of  thirty-two  per  cent, 
which,  itself,  teHbly  enhanced  her  expenditure,  when 
she  had  to  purchase,  with  such  depreciated  paper,  gold 
and  silver  for  the  maintenance  of  her  armies  abroad  and 
supplies  for  her  service  at  home.  Her  national  in- 
come from  houses,  lands,  and  every  species  of  personal 
property,  does  not  exceed  two  hundred  millions,  of 
which  the  government  expends  one-third,  a  proportion 
full  as  much  as  any  people  can  pay,  and  at  the  same 
time  exert  their  productive  industry,  so  as  to  prevent 
the  capital  of  the  nation  from  suffering  a  grievous  an- 
nual diminution. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE"  UNITED  STATES. 


93 


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Cj£  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  the  year  1813,  the  expose  gave  the  population  of 
old  France  at  28,700,000;  and  of  the  whole  empire  at 
42,705,000. 

Capital,  real  and  personal,  at $  18,900,000,000 

Income  at 945,000,000 


Capital  of  France  in  1817 12,000,000,000 

Income  600,000,000 

Public  revenue  140,000,000 

Expenditure 250,000,000 


A  deficit  this  of  $  1 1 0,000,000,  is  so  alarming  in  the 
present  exhausted  condition  of  France,  as  to  portend 
either  national  bankruptcy,  or  the  still  greater  evil  of 
national  convulsion.  The  dilapidated  state  of  all  the 
European  exchequers,  probably,  renders  it  a  matter  of 
necessity  for  the  allied  sovereigns  to  maintain  their 
armies  of  occupation  at  the  expense  of  the  French  peo- 
ple. But  sucn  an  annual  expenditure  is  so  far  beyond 
the  power  of  France,  in  the  present  depressed  state  of 
her  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce  to  sup- 
port, as  to  threaten  the  total  destruction  of  her  ways 
and  means  ;  and  to  create  an  innumerable  multitude  of 
paupers,  ripened  by  hunger  and  nakedness  into  a  state 
of  desperation,  ready  for  any  revolution. 

Russia  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  organized  any 
system  of  finance,  as  yet ;  and  has  never  been  able  to 
move  her  armies  out  of  her  own  territories  without  a 
subsidy  from  England.  She  has,  indeed,  recently  esta- 
blished a  bank  at  Petersburgh,  for  the  purpose  of  faci- 
litating the  moneyed  operations  of  her  immense  empire. 
The  finances  of  Austria,  Prussia,  Spain,  and  the  United 
Netherlands,  are  in  a  condition  truly  deplorable,  and  re- 
quire many  years  of  peace  and  economy  to  reduce  the 
to  order,  and  render  them  productive.  .  . 

It  is  supposed  that  the  United  States  have,  very  re- 
cently, purchased  Florida  for  five  millions  of  dollars. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  95 

If  sc,  they  have  done  wisejy  to  add  a  valuable  terri- 
tory to  their  southern  frontier  at  a  small  expense,  in 
the  way  of  barter,  which  is  a  much  easier,  safer,  and 
better  mode  of  acquiring  dominion  than  that  of  war  and 
conquest.  The  whole  purchase  money  does  not  amount 
to  quite  sevenpence  sterling  an  acre,  for  the  fee  simple 
of  upwards  of  thirty-seven  millions  of  acres,  to  say  no- 
thing of  the  territorial  sovereignty.  The  public  lands, 
as  yet  ungranted,  will  pay  the  price  of  the  whole  coun- 
try ten  times  OVCr. 

Its  surface  covers  58,000  square  miles,  and  contains 
not  quite  10,000  people,  or  about  one  person  to  every 
six  square  miles.  Its  seacoast  is  extensive,  and  pre- 
sents many  fine  harbours,  and  many  good  situations  for 
commercial  towns.  Indeed,  the  whole  country,  when 
cleared,  drained,  and  cultivated,  will  maintain  an  abun- 
dant population. 

If  Florida  be  incorporated  with  the  dominion  of  the 
United  States,  it  will  very  soon  number  a  greater  popu- 
lation than  ten  thousand  souls.  Such  is  the  contrast 
between  the  quickening  power  of  popular  liberty  and 
the  benumbing  influence  of  single  despotism.  Spanish 
America,  and  the  Brazils,  are  far  superior  to  t  heUnited 
States,  in  all  the  physical  advantages  of  soil,  climate, 
the  products  of  the  earth,  and  navigable  waters ;  and 
yet,  under  the  weak,  improvident,  tyrannical  adminis- 
tration of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  governments, 
those  vast  regions  languish  in  ignorance,  superstition, 
poverty,  weakness,  and  vice ;  while  the  United  States 
present  to  the  eyes  of  an  astonished  world  the  extreme 
reverse  of  all  these  bad  qualities  and  conditions.  New- 
Orleans,  while  under  the  dominion  of  Spain,  was  lost  in 
imbecility,  idleness,  and  folly ;  but  now,  after  expe- 
riencing only  fourteen  years  of  American  freedom,  it  is 
advancing  rapidly  towards  the  rank  of  a  first-rate  com- 
mercial city — by  its  enterprise  and  spirit — its  growth  in 
wealth  and  population.  And  so  will  it  fare  with  Cuba, 
with  Mexico,  and  Peru,  when  they  become  integral 
parts  of  the  United  States,  and  exchange  their  present 
penury  and  bondage  for  the  freedom  and  abundance 


96  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

that  invariably  follow  the  foot-tracks  of  a  popular  go- 
vernment. 

How  strange  and  portentous  is  the  contrast  between 
the  steady  and  progressive  policy  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  supine  indifference  of  the  British  government ! 
Britain  has  lavished  the  life's  blood  of  a  hundred  thou- 
sand of  her  bravest  warriors,  and  expended  uncounted 
millions  in  rescuing  Spain  from  the  yoke  of  France ; 
and  yet  she  cannot,  or  will  not  acquire  a  single  inch  of 
territorv,  in  any  quarter  of  the  globe,  from  the  Spanish 
government ; — while  the  United  States,  without  sacri- 
ficing the  life  of  a  single  citizen,  and  at  the  expense  of 
only  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  have,  within  the  course 
of  a  few  years,  obtained  from  France  and  Spain  the  ex- 
clusive sovereignty  over  a  fair  and  fertile  dominion,  at 
least  twenty  times  the  extent  of  all  the  British  Isles  taken 
together. 

Why  does  not  England,  as  part  of  the  indemnity  due 
to  her  from  Spain,  transfer  to  her  own  sceptre  the 
sovereignty  of  Cuba;  seeing  that  the  Havanna  com- 
mands the  passage  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ?  Why  does 
she  not  take  possession  of  Panama  on  the  south,  and 
Darien  on  the  north,  and  join  the  waters  of  the  Atlan- 
tic with  those  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  in  order  to  resusci- 
tate her  drooping  commerce  ?  Or  is  it  her  intention 
still  to  slumber  on,  until  she  is  awakened  from  the  stu- 
pefaction of  her  dreams  by  the  final  fall  of  Spanish 
America,  and  of  her  own  North  American  provinces, 
beneath  the  ever-widening  power  of  the  United  States ; 
— and  by  the  floating  of  the  Russian  flag,  in  token  of 
Russian  sovereignty,  over  the  Grecian  Archipelago, 
and  on  the  towers  of  Constantinople  ?  Are  all  her  na- 
tional glories  to  be  blotted  out  in  one  hemisphere,  by  a 
power  but  recently  emerged  from  the  snows  and  bar- 
barism of  the  North;  and  in  the  other  hemisphere,  to 
be  trampled  into  the  dust  by  the  gigantic  footsteps  of 
her  own  child  ?  Is  the  heathen  mythology  of  Jupiter 
and  Saturn  to  be  verified  in  the  nineteenth  century? 

The  island  of  Cuba  would  soon  exhibit  another,  and 
a  better  aspect,  under  the  vigorous  dominion  of  Britain, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.  97 

than  she  now  presents,  under  the  forlorn  and  beggarly 
government  of  Spain.  By  her  free  and  equal  laws,  by 
the  weight  of  her  capital,  by  the  skill,  industry,  spirit, 
and  enterprise  of  her  people,  Britain  would  soon  render 
that  island  a  powerful  nation  in  itself,  and  a  most  valu- 
able outwork  of  her  own  maritime  empire.  By  the 
possession  of  Panama  and  Darien,  and  the  junction  of 
the  Atlantic  with  the  Pacific  Ocean,  England  might 
command  the  commerce  of  the  east  and  west,  and  pour 
such  a  floodtide  of  wealth  over  all  her  home  territory 
as  would  relieve  her  people  from  the  pressure  of  their 
national  burdens,  and  give  to  their  productive  labour  an 
unimpeded  course,  and  an  abundant  recompense. 
Doubtless,  the  proposals  made  to  the  British  govern- 
ment, in  the  years  1792  and  1798,  by  the  Spanish  Ame- 
rican delegates,  for  the  emancipation  of  their  country, 
and  the  junction  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  and 
which  have  been  already  adverted  to  in  a  preceding 
chapter,  on  the  Commerce  of  the  United  States,  are  to 
be  found  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, in  London. 

Notwithstanding  the  shattered  state  of  the  Euro- 
pean systems  of  finance,  and  the  consequent  weakness 
of  the  governments  of  Europe,  it  is  more  than  ever  in- 
cumbent upon  the  United  States  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
an  ample,  permanent,  and  growing  internal  revenue, 
arising  from  home  taxation  ;  because,  whenever  Europe 
becomes  generally  embroiled  again,  America  will  find 
that  she  now  fills  too  large  a  space  in  the  eye  of  the 
world  to  preserve  her  neutrality,  and  to  keep  aloof 
from  the  conflict.  In  spite  of  the  apparent  calm,  the 
elements  of  an  approaching  tempest  are  every  where 
visible  in  the  European  horizon.  There  are  no  symp- 
toms of  continuous  health  and  long  life  in  the  coalition 
of  the  allied  sovereigns.  Russia  already  exhibits  signs 
of  jealousy  at  the  naval  preponderance  and  commercial 
influence  of  Britain ;  while  England  is  alarmed  at  the 
enormous  strides  of  the  Russian  government  towards  ab- 
solute ascendancy  on  the  continent  of  Europe  ;  she  re- 
fuses to  join,  and  looks  with  apprehension  on  the  Holv 

13 


gg  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

League,  whose  avowed  principles  are  so  extremely  sim- 
ple, not  to  say  childish,  that  they  cannot  fail  to  rouse 
the  suspicion  of  every  one  that  is  acquainted  with  the 
steady,  strait-forward  progress  by  which  Russia  has  en- 
larged her  territory,  swollen  her  population,  and  aug- 
mented her  power,  during  the  last  hundred  years. 
Austria  and  Prussia  both  tremble  at  the  overgrown, 
greatness  of  their  imperial  neighbour;  and  see,  in  the 
increase  of  that  greatness,  the  forerunner  of  their  own 
doom. 

Meanwhile  France,  whose  habitual  intrigue  and  di- 
plomatic cunning  never  sleep,  whatever  be  the  form  of 
her  government,  will  labour  incessantly  to  sow  the  seed 
and  ripen  the  harvest  of  dissention  among  the  coalesced 
sovereigns  ;  and  will  strain  every  nerve  to  embroil  Bri- 
tain with  Russia  arid  America,  that  she  herself  may 
profit  amidst  the  general  confusion.  The  United  States 
will  be  called  upon  to  take  sides  in  the  European  con- 
test ;  and  they  will,  both  government  and  people,  range 
themselves  against  England,  whom  they  hate  with 
all  their  heart,  and  soul,  and  strength,  as  their  naval 
and  commercial  rival,  who  must,  at  all  events,  be  ex- 
terminated. They  must,  therefore,  build  up  their  finan- 
cial system  on  a  broad  basis,  in  order  to  maintain  a  long 

J  .  ^5 

and  desperate  struggle — since  the  British  lion  will  not 
yield  in  subjection,  while  a  drop  of  blood  plays  around 
and  warms  his  heart ;  he  will  not  lie  down  in  bondage 
until  the  whole  lifetide  shall  have  been  drained  from 
out  his  veins. 


CHAPTER  V. 


- 

On  the  Government,  Policy,  Laws,  ${C.  of  the  United 
States. 

A.S  all  the  governments  of  this  country  are  purely 
elective,  and  founded  upon  the  full  sovereignty  of  the 
people,  the  study  of  political  economy  ought  to  make  an 
essential  part  of  American  education  ;  whereas,  except- 
ing in  the  State  of  Virginia,  our  schools  and  colleges 
generally  neglect  this  important  branch  of  Philosophical 
inquiry  altogether.  Indeed,  it  is  far  too  fashionable  a 
doctrine  in  the  United  States,  that  a  man  may  be  a  very 
profound  political  economist,  although  his  ignorance  on 
all  other  subjects  is  quite  conspicuous,  and  his  general 
dulness  no  less  manifest.  But,  in  fact,  there  is  no  roy- 
al road  to  this  science ;  and  although,  in  an  hereditary 
aristocracy,  men  are  born  legislators,  yet  no  privileges 
of  birth  can  confer  a  knowledge  of  political  philosophy. 
And  I  would  advise  those  sapient  personages,  who  insist 
upon  the  extreme  facilities  of  this  science,  and  that  its 
whole  compass  lies  within  the  range  of  the  every-day 
exertions  of  ordinary  understandings,  to  learn  the  indi- 
vidual application  of  the  argumentum  ad  modestiam  to 
themselves,  by  a  perusal  of  the  political  effusions  of  the 
greatest  philosophers  and  statesmen  of  ancient  Greece ; 
for  instance,  the  Treatise  of  Plato  on  the  best  constitu- 
tion of  a  Republic ;  the  elaborate  work  of  Aristotle  on 
Politics,  and  the  schemes  of  Isocrates  for  obviating  or 
preventing  the  external  quarrels  of  the  Greeks  among 
themselves,  by  directing  a  constant  hostility  against  fo- 
reign nations ;  more  especially  against  the  monarchy  of 
Persia, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Indeed,  notwithstanding  their  progress  in  civilization, 
and  their  frequent  practice  in  war,  had  led  the  Greeks, 
though  not  to  the  generosity  of  the  warfare  of  modern 
Christendom,  yet  to  occasional  uages  adopted  to  hu- 
manize hostility,  in  some  degree,  and  to  diminish  the 
aggregate  amount  of  its  bloody  horrors ;  still  the  radi- 
cal imperfections  of  their  political  system,  and  the  tur- 
bulent habits  which  it  superinduced,  led  their  greatest 
Statesmen  and  profoundest  sages  to  conclude  that  war- 
fare was  the  natural  state  of  man ;  a  state  which  might, 
possibly,  be  regulated,  but  could  not  be  prevented,  or 
suspended,  by  any  efforts  of  human  policy.  Is  it  possi- 
ble that  certain  popular  modern  writers  have  ever  seen 
the  works  of  Herodotus,  Thucydides,  and  Xenophon  ? 
or,  at  least,  learned  from  their  perusal  to  extol  Greece 
as  the  favourite  land  of  freedom ;  in  which  that  greatest 
of  social  blessings  peculiarly  flourished,  from  the  age 
of  Pisistratus  to  the  usurpation  of  Philip  of  Macedon  ? 
Bold  and  frequent  struggles,  indeed,  were  made,  and 
much  private  assassination,  and  many  public  butcheries 
were  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  liberty,  whose  spirit 
seemed  to  be  continually  boiling  up  into  fire,  and  smoke, 
and  vapour ;  but  whose  substance  was  seldom,  if  ever, 
to  be  found  in  any  of  the  Grecian  commonwealths, 
whether  following  the  fortunes,  and  obeying  the  com- 
mands of  the  Lacedemonian  aristocracy,  or  those  of  the 
imperial  democracy  of  Athens. 

Could  the  battle  of  Cheronea  itself,  which  made 
Philip  master  of  Greece,  be  more  fatal  to  Grecian  free- 
dom than  the  fields  of  Aigospotami  and  Leuctra  ?  Xeno- 
phon, certainly,  felt  that  his  contemporaries  were  not 
free;  as  all  his  narrative  writings  sufficiently  testify. 
And,  if  we  turn  from  the  recorded  history  of  what  ac- 
tually did  take  place,  to  the  observations  and  schemes 
of  the  ablest  men  who  speculated  upon  those  transac- 
tions ;  about  the  same  time  we  find  Plato,  and  Isocrates, 
and  Aristotle,  profound  and  eloquent  as  they  were,  ut- 
terly unable  to  propose  any  plan,  or  devise  any  means 
by  which  Greece  might  be  tree.  The  great  difficulty 
of  mastering  so  complicated  a  science,  as  that  of  politi- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


101 


cal  economy,  must  be  accepted  as  an  apology  for  the 
system  of  policy  recommended  in  that  work,  so  much 
admired  by  the  ancients,  both  Greek  and  Roman — I 
mean  Xenophon's  Cyropaideia.  Fortunately  for  us, 
experience  has  taught  some  few  of  the  nations  of  modern 
Christendom  forms  of  government,  beyond  all  compari- 
son more  favourable  to  private  and  public  liberty  and 
peace.  Although  successive  demagogues  had  most 
wretchedly  degraded  the  ancient  Athenian  constitution*; 
yet,  if  there  ever  existed  in  Greece  any  foundation  for  a 
good  government,  it  seems  to  have  been  in  the  laws, 
customs,  and  habits  of  Athens,  as  derived  from  the  in- 
stitutions of  Theseus  and  Solon.  That  excellent  princi- 
ple— the  only  one  on  which  a  free  government  can  be 
firmly  grounded — namely,  that  the  aggregate  of  private 
should  make  public  good ;  and  its  practical  corollary, 
that  the  rights  of  individuals,  once  established  by  law, 
should  always  be  held  sacred,  seem  to  have  been  original 
principles,  established  in  the  kingdom  of  Theseus,  and 
the  Republic  of  Solon. 

But  a  quite  different  principle  obtained  a  very  gene- 
ral prevalence  among  the  other  Grecian  common- 
wealths ;  namely,  an  ideal  public  good,  always  distinct 
from,  and  for  the  most  part  destructive  of,  private  good ; 
pretty  much  resembling  the  modern  jacobin  doctrine, 
that  the  true  business  of  government  is  so  effectually  to 
provide  for  the  general  good,  as  most  unerringly  to  de- 
stroy all  individual  happiness  and  virtue.  Whereas,  by 
the  very  constitution  of  human  nature,  self-love,  or  the 
desire  of  personal  happiness,  is  implanted  in  the  heart 
by  God,  as  the  primary,  the  perpetual  spring  of  all  hu- 
man action.  Man  cannot  love  his  kind,  unless  he  first 
love  himself.  The  ever-active  principle  of  self-love  is 
strongest  in  the  heart  of  every  individual ;  and  is  gra- 
dually weakened  as  it  extends  its  affections  throughout 
all  the  kindred  charities  of  life — parental,  conjugal,  filial 
— throughout  all  the  social  ties  of  friends,  neighbours, 
acquaintance,  magistrates,  country.  The  predominant 
power  of  the  principle  of  self-love  is  implied  in  the  very 
terms  of  that  divine  command,  *'  Thou  shalt  love  thy 


102 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


neighbour  as  thyself"  Meaning,  that  under  the  select- 
est  influences  of  Christian  charity  man  is  required  to 
give  the  whole  affections  of  his  nature  to  his  neighbour, 
that  is,  to  every  one  who  stands  in  need  of  his  kindness. 
But  turbulent,  discontented,  profligate  men  in  all  coun- 
tries, trample  upon  the  individual  affections  of  humanity; 
and,  in  proportion  as  they  prove  themselves  faithless 
husbands,  unnatural  fathers,  disobedient  sons,  cruel 
masters,  false  friends,  quarrelsome  neighbours,  rebel- 
lious citizens,  unprincipled  in  all  their  conduct,  do  they 
arrogate  to  themselves  the  claim  of  being  the  exclusive 
champions  of  the  public  good.  As  if  it  were  possible 
for  a  wretch,  steeped  in  all  the  atrocity  and  degrada- 
tion of  private  vice,  to  be  a  real  patriot,  actuated  by  a 
sincere  desire  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  country ! 
O  y<*£  juj<roT«tvo?  (says  jfEschines,  most  indignantly,  in  his 
oration  against  Ctesias)  KMI  TWHJ^  TTOV^O?,  owe  CM  TTOTE 
yivoiro  £t][Aa,yct>'yof  %g*i?o$y  ou^g  o  rot  <$i\[MiTot>  KCK.I  oiKtioToiroi 
ffufjiotrac  ftYj  (TTg^yaiv,  ouJ'e/roTe  v/jtMg  -^m  TrAewvo?  7Totti<rtToit  TOU? 

<*AAOT£JOUf,    OU«Jg  ^6  0  tflCC,    TTOVyQW,     OOJC    CIV    TTOTg    ygVOJTO     Jty*0«A 

XgWTos.  "  It  is  impossible,  that  the  unnatural  father,  the 
hater  of  his  own  blood,  should  be  an  able  and  faithful 
leader  of  his  country ;  that  the  heart,  which  is  insensi- 
ble to  the  intimate  and  touching  influences  of  domestic 
affection,  should  be  alive  to  the  remoter  impulses  of  pa- 
triotic feeling;  that  private  depravity  should  consist 
with  public  virtue." 

One  of  the  very  first  symptoms  that  discovers  the 
selfish  and  mischievous  ambition  of  a  demagogue,  is  the 
profligate  disregard  of  individual  feeling  and  domestic 
affection.  To  be  tenderly  attached  to  the  little,  pre- 
cious circle  of  kindred,  to  feel  a  yearning  of  the  heart 
towards  the  particular  subdivision  of  society  to  which 
we  belong,  is  the  first  principle,  the  radical  germ  of  pub- 
lic affection.  It  is  the  first  link  in  the  series  of  that 
golden  chain  of  love,  by  which  we  are  bound,  first  to 
our  families  and  friends,  then  to  our  country  and  man- 
kind at  large. 

Of  all  the  legislators  of  ancient  Greece,  who  under- 
took to  promote  the  public  welfare,  by  destroying  all 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


103 


private  good,  Lycurgus  the  Spartan  was  most  success- 
ful. His  first  step  was  to  make  the  Lacedemonians  a 
nation  of  paupers ;  to  destroy  almost  the  very  vestiges 
of  private  property,  under  pretence  of  providing  for 
the  interest  of  the  community.  Every  individual  was 
required  to  sacrifice  all  his  own  pursuits,  comfort,  and 
happiness,  to  whatever  was  called  the  good  of  the  state  ; 
by  which  patriotic  and  fashionable  phrase,  nothing  more 
was  in  reality  meant,  than  that  all  private  interest 
should  yield,  and  be  rendered  subservient  to  the  schemes 
and  views  of  the  few  ambitious  men  who  governed  the 
state,  and  made  the  bodies,  minds,  and  wills  of  all  their 
fellow-citizens  the  pedestal  of  their  own  exalted  power. 
And,  as  the  public  or  national  education  (for  no  private 
instruction  was  allowed)  was  chiefly  directed  to  render- 
dering  the  frame  hardy  and  robust,  to  instil  the  neces- 
sity of  personal  courage,  to  teach  dexterity  in  thieving, 
and  skill  in  lying,  to  inculcate  habits  of  remorseless 
cruelty,  the  Lacedemonians,  under  their  existing 
leaders,  were  always  prepared  for  the  perpetration  of 
any  crimes,  however  dark  and  atrocious ;  and,  in  con- 
sequence, were  perpetually  employed,  either  in  assas- 
sinating the  Helotes,  a  nation  of  brother  Greeks,  whom 
they  had  reduced  to  slavery;  or  in  carrying  on  war 
against,  and  dqmineeririg  over  and  oppressing  their 
sister  republican  states.  Whence,  all  over  Greece, 
the  peaceable  and  the  quiet,  who  did  not  aim  at  politi- 
cal influence  or  military  power,  but  only  desired  peace, 
and  security,  and  civil  order,  were  exposed  to  constant 
alarms,  and  the  severest  sufferings. 

But  even  the  constitutions  of  Theseus  and  Solon,  as 
well  as  those  of  every  other  Grecian  commonwealth, 
were  in  want  of  another  great  political  principle,  spread 
over  many  portions  of  modern  Europe,  namely,  repre- 
sentation, which  is,  in  fact,  the  beginning,  middle,  and 
end  of  all  the  governments,  both  State  and  Federal,  of 
these  United  States.  The  essential  advantage  of  the 
principle  of  representation  is,  not  merely  that  a  great 
nation  can  transact  all  its  public  business  conveniently 
by  its  representatives,  which  even  a  very  small  country 


104 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


cannot  do,  by  its  assembled  numbers,  in  wild  democracy  j 
but  also,  that  some  responsibility  may  be  attached  to 
every  department  of  constituted  power;  by  which  pro- 
vision alone,  whatever  be  the  name  or  form  of  govern- 
ment, real  despotism  can  be  obviated  or  prevented. 
For  the  want  of  this  grand  improvement  in  modern 
political  science,  the  Grecian  Legislators  were  quite  at 
a  loss  how  to  secure  liberty  to  the  great  body  of  the 
people  without  giving  them  despotic  power;  and  thus, 
in  effect,  the  multitude  became  absolute  and  unresponsi- 
ble  tyrants,  instead  of  being,  what  they  ought  to  be  in 
every  country,  orderly  freemen,  living  in  obedience  to 
the  municipal  laws  of  the  existing  governments. 

Those  persons  are  either  not  wise,  or  not  honest,  or 
neither,  who  pretend  that  political  and  legislative 
science  is  easy  and  obvious,  level  to  the  meanest  capa- 
city, and  most  unlettered  education ;  to  the  apprehen- 
sion of  the  peasant  who  directs  the  plough,  the  artisan 
who  plies  the  loom,  the  carman  who  guides  his  horse, 
and  of  all  the  labouring  classes,  whose  daily  toil  is  de- 
voted to  providing  for  the  necessities  of  each  passing 
day.  The  writings  of  the  ablest  Greek  philosophers 
and  statesmen,  showing  how  very  deficient  that  en- 
lightened and  illustrious  nation  was  in  many  of  the  most 
important  principles  of  political  economy,  abundantly 
prove  how  difficult  and  complicated  that  science  is.  In- 
deed, the  history  of  all  nations  demonstrates  by  what 
slow  |and  painful  steps,  by  what  apparently  accidental 
circumstances,  by  what  jarring  of  discordant  interests, 
by  what  violence  of  faction  from  within,  by  what  pres- 
sure of  hostility  from  without,  by  what  dear-bought  ex- 
perience of  long-continued  and  accumulated  evils,  any 
advance  towards  perfection  in  the  constitution  and  ad- 
ministration of  government  has  been  made.  The  works 
of  Plato  and  Xenophon  should,  in  particular,  be  stu- 
died, in  order  to  form  an  accurate  notion  of  the  imper- 
fection of  political  science  in  their  time,  and  of  the  en- 
tire inability,  even  of  their  great  genius  and  extensive 
learning,  to  remedy  the  defects,  or  enlarge  the  bound- 
aries of  that  important  science. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

To  arrive  at  any  certain  and  comprehensive  results 
in  political  philosophy,  requires  a  previous  patient,  and 
accurate  analysis  of  by  far  the  most  complicated  class 
of  phenomena  that  can  engage  our  attention  ;  namely, 
those  effects  which  result  from  the  intricate,  and  often 
imperceptible  mechanism  of  political  society.  In  ancient 
times,  it  was  impossible  to  make  this  analysis;  because, 
before  the  invention  of  printing,  and  consequent  diffusion 
of  knowledge  among  a  large  proportion  of  every  civilized 
community,  the  human  mind  was  compelled  to  waste  it- 
self in  such  researches,  unaided  and  solitary ;  and  the 
difficulties  attending  these  complicated  inquiries,  must 
for  ever  have  baffled  the  efforts  of  individual  genius: 
since  even  now,  they  yield  slowly  and  reluctantly  to  the 
united  exertions  of  so  many  successive  ages,  and  such 
numerous  hosts  of  philosophers  and  politicians,  all  com- 
bined to  prosecute  the  same  inquiries.  In  proportion 
as  the  experience  and  reasonings  of  different  individu- 
als, of  different  ages  and  countries,  are  brought  to  bear 
directly  upon  the  same  objects,  and  are  so  skilfully 
combined,  as  to  illustrate,  modify,  and  limit  each  other ; 
the  science  of  political  economy  assumes  more  and 
more,  that  systematic  arrangement  and  form,  which 
give  both  encouragement  and  assistance  to  the  efforts 
of  future  investigators. 

In  prosecuting  the  science  of  political  philosophy,  little 
is  to  be  learned  from  perusing  the  speculations  of  an- 
cient sages ;  because  they  confine  their  attention  to  a 
comparison  of  the  different  forms  of  government,  whe- 
ther simple,  as  monarchial,  aristocratic,  or  democratic; 
or  mixed,  as  in  a  combination,  variously  proportioned  of 
these  elemental  institutions ;  and  to  examining  the  pro- 
visions made  by  each  State,  for  perpetuating  its  own 
national  existence,  and  extending  its  own  military  glory. 
It  was  reserved  for  the  purer  religion,  and  brighter  phi- 
losophy of  modern  times,  to  investigate  those  universal 
principles  of  moral  justice,  which  ought,  under  every 
form  of  government,  to  regulate  the  whole  system  of 
social  order,  and  make  as  equitable  a  distribution  as 
possible,  among  all  the  different  members  of  a  commu- 

14 


&ESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STAfES*. 

nity,  of  the  advantages  and  burdens  of  political  unionv 
In  all  the  departments  of  literature,  science,  and  art,  in 
which  genius  discovers  within  itself  the  materials  of  its 
own  labour,  as  oratory,  poetry,  painting,  architecture, 
sculpture,  pure  geometry,  and  some  branches  of  moral 
philosophy,  the  ancients  have  left  great  and  finished 
specimens  of  excellence.  But  in  physics,  or  natural 
philosophy,  where  the  progress  of  improvement  depends 
upon  an  immense  collection  of  accumulated  facts,  and 
their  skilful  combination;  and  above  all,  in  politics, 
where  the  materials  of  information  are  scattered  over 
the  whole  surface  of  human  society,  and  are  still  more 
difficult  to  collect  and  arrange,  the  means  of  communi- 
cation afforded  by  the  press,  have  in  the  lapse  of  the 
two  last  centuries,  done  infinitely  more  to  accelerate  the 
progress  of  the  human  mind,  by  the  increase  of  sub- 
stantial information,  than  had  been  accomplished  in  all 
preceding  ages.* 

One  chief  design  of  the  legislators  of  antiquity,  was 
to  counteract  the  love  of  money,  and  prevent  luxury, 
by  positive  institutions,  and  sumptuary  laws;  and  to 
perpetuate  habits  of  frugality,  and  a  stern  severity  of 
manners,  throughout  the  great  mass  of  the  population. 
The  Grecian  and  Roman  historians  and  philosophers 
uniformly  attribute  the  decline  and  fall  of  every  nation, 
to  the  destructive  influence  of  general  wealth  upon  the 
national  character;  rendering  the  men  idle,  effeminate, 

*  During  the  last  fifty  years,  the  most  enlightened  political  econo- 
mists in  Europe,  have  laboured  to  improve  the  condition  of  humaa 
society,  by  endeavouring  to  inform  the  minds,  and  amend  the  actual 
policy  of  existing  statesmen  and  legislators.  Some  of  the  best 
works  on  this  subject  are,  Sir  James  Stuart's  Treatise  on  Political 
Economy,  Dr.  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations,  Mr.  Malthus's  Essay  on 
Population,  Mr.  Brougham's  Inquiry  into  Colonial  Policy  >  the  Earl 
of  Selkirk's  Essay  on  Emigration,  the  Chevalier  Filangieris's  Trea- 
tise on  Legislation,  Mr.  Bentham's  work  on  the  same  subject,  the 
works  of  M.  Turgot,  and  M.  Quesnay,  of  M.  Say,  of  the  Marquis 
Beccaria,  and  of  Camponanes,  the  Spanish  philosopher,  whose 
work  on  the  importance  of  Agriculture  and  Commerce,  led  him  to 
the  dungeons  of  the  Inquisition  in  1796,  from  which  he  was  libe- 
rated, after  an  incarceration  of  twelve  years,  by  the  revolution  of 
1808, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

dastardly,  and  profligate,  fit  only  to  be  slaves  and  syco- 
phants ;  and  inducing  the  women  to  be  immodest  and 
vitious.  But  the  policy  of  modern  legislators  is  direct- 
ly the  reverse  of  these  self-denying  ordinances ;  so  far 
from  dreaming  that  poverty  and  beggary  are  the  sinews 
of  national  strength,  they  are  perpetually  labouring  to 
open  new  sources  of  individual  and  collective  opulence, 
and  to  stimulate  the  active  industry  of  all  classes,  by 
encouraging  a  general  taste  for  the  conveniences,  com- 
forts, and  luxuries  of  life.  And  in  modern  Christendom, 
the  most  wealthy  nations  invariably  exhibit  a  popula- 
tion, which  exercises  the  greatest  industry,  and  enjoys 
the  most  unrestrained  freedom;  indeed  it  was  the  ge- 
neral diffusion  of  wealth  among  the  lower  order  of  the 
people,  more  especially  among  the  burghers  of  the  ci- 
ties, which  first  gave  birth  to  the  spirit  of.  personal  in- 
dependence, and  national  liberty  in  modern  Europe ;  and 
which  produced  in  some  of  the  governments,  even  on 
the  European  continent,  as  in  Holland,  the  Hanse 
Towns,  Sweden,  and  Switzerland,  a  far  more  equal  dif- 
fusion of  freedom  and  happiness  than  ever  existed  un- 
der the  most  highly  vaunted  constitutions  of  heathen 
antiquity. 

The  free  governments  of  continental  Europe,  to  be 
sure,  were  overthrown,  and  for  awhile  destroyed  by 
the  force  and  fraud  of  revolutionary  France,  who,  with 
the  most  rigid  impartiality,  restored  all  her  vassal  states 
to  their  pristine  condition  of  poverty,  barbarism,  and 
bondage ;  such  as  shrouded  the  whole  of  Christendom 
in  Cimmerian  darkness,  before  commerce  and  wealth 
had  poured  in  their  streams  of  civilization,  intelligence, 
and  freedom.  But  Britain,  who  was  enabled,  by  the 
prompt  and  permanent  power  of  her  government,  and 
by  the  characteristic  energy  of  her  people,  to  ride  out 
in  safety  and  triumph  the  revolutionary  storm  and  tem- 
pest, which  scattered  the  wrecks  of  the  other  European 
governments  over  all  the  ocean  of  ruin,  has  uniformly 
increased  in  the  strength  of  her  executive,  and  in  the 
liberty  and  refinement  of  her  people,  in  proportion  as 
private  and  public  wealth  has  been  diffused  throughout 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

all  her  dominions.  The  radical  and  fatal  defect  of  an- 
cient legislation  appears  to  have  been,  its  constant  aim 
to  shape  and  mould,  by  the  force  of  positive  institutions, 
the  order  of  human  society,  according  to  some  pre- 
conceived, abstract  notion  of  political  expediency;  with- 
out sufficiently  trusting  to  those  universal  principles  in 
the  natural  constitution  of  man,  which,  when  allowed 
full  scope  of  exertion,  never  fail  to  conduct  the  com- 
monwealth to  a  progressive  improvement  in  its  condi- 
tion, and  to  a  continual  exaltation  of  character. 

The  chief  excellence  in  the  system  of  modern  policy, 
is  its  conformity,  in  some  of  the  most  important  points 
of  economics,  to  the  order  of  nature.  And  it  is  errone- 
ous, just  so  far  as  it  imposes  restraints  upon  the  natural 
course  of  human  affairs,  by  stifling  the  growth  or  per- 
verting the  direction  of  individual  industry  and  private 
property.  Some  of  the  most  absurd  and  ruinous  of 
these  restraints  are  to  be  found  in  mercantile  monopolies, 
which  increase,  unnecessarily,  the  price  of  all  the  mono- 
poly articles ;  in  protecting  duties  on  domestic  manu- 
factures, which  ensures  to  the  consumer  a  worse  com- 
modity at  a  heavier  expense  than  a  better  article  could 
be  furnished  by  foreign  importation ;  in  prohibitions  of 
exportation,  which  operate  as  a  check  to  production,  by 
closing  the  avenues  to  competition  in  the  markets  of 
other  nations  ;  in  all  the  beggarly  and  despicable  expe- 
dients of  embargo,  non-intercourse,  and  non-importa- 
tion, the  misbegotten  progeny  of  the  restrictive  system ; 
all  of  which  directly  tend  to  repress  the  growth  of  na- 
tional wealth,  retard  the  progress  of  population,  para- 
lyze the  exertions  of  private  enterprise,  wither  the 
sinews  of  public  resource,  render  the  government  odious 
and  oppressive  at  home,  ineffectual  and  contemptible 
abroad. 

The  most  efficient  plan  of  policy,  which  any  govern- 
ment can  pursue  for  establishing  the  prosperity  and  ad- 
vancing the  greatness  of  its  people,  is  carefully  to  follow, 
and  steadily  maintain  the  order  of  things  pointed  out  by 
Nature  herself;  that  is  to  say,  by  allowing  every  one, 
as  long  as  he  observes  the  rules  of  justice  and  common 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  j  00 

honesty,  to  pursue  his  own  private  interest  in  his  own 
way,  and  use  his  industry,  talents,  and  capital,  in  the 
most  free  and  unrestrained  competition  with  the  capital, 
talents,  and  industry  of  his  fellow-citizens ;  and  thus  to 
ensure  a  continual  augmentation  of  the  aggregate 
amount  of  national  labour,  intelligence,  and  riches. 
Every  system  of  policy  which  endeavours,  either  by  ex- 
traordinary encouragements  to  seduce  towards  any 
given  species  of  industry  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
capital  of  the  country  than  would  be  naturally  employed 
therein,  if  each  man  were  left  to  the  unbiassed  employ- 
ment of  his  own  labour  and  property — or,  by  extraordi- 
nary restraints,  to  force  from  any  particular  species  of 
industry  some  share  of  the  capital  which  would  other- 
wise be  employed  in  it — has  a  direct  tendency  to  im- 
poverish ana  weaken  the  whole  community. 

A  most  instructive  chapter  in  political  economy  might 
be  written  on  the  ruinous  effects  of  those  short-sighted 
views,  which  prompted  our  general  government,  some 
few  years  since,  to  endeavour  to  build  up  the  interests  of 
the  American  farmers  upon  the  ruin  of  the  American 
merchants  ;  whereas  the  well-being  of  agriculture  and 
commerce  is  reciprocal ;  they  are  twin-sisters ;  they  are 
born,  and  flourish,  and  fade,  and  die  together.  In  mo- 
dern Europe,  generally,  a  system  of  policy  the  reverse 
of  this  has  been  adopted ;  and  one,  scarcely  less  opposed 
to  the  order  of  nature,  in  the  developement  of  national 
wealth  and  greatness :  I  mean  encouraging  the  industry 
of  towns  and  cities,  at  the  expense  of  the  labour  of  the 
country  ;  and  sacrificing  the  interests  of  agriculture  to 
those  of  commerce. 

The  mercantile  system,  which  is  now  interwoven  in 
every  department  of  European  policy,  is  based  upon 
two  radically  erroneous  principles ;  namely,  restraints 
upon  importation,  and  encouragements  to  exportation  ; 
both  of  which  are  unpropitious  to  the  wealth  and  pros- 
perity of  the  nation  that  imposes  them.. 

Generally  speaking,  the  freer  a  government  is,  the 
more  it  consults  and  provides  for  the  personal,  domestic, 
and  social  liberty  and  happiness  of  its  own  people,  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  DOTTED  STATES. 

less  inclined,  and  less  able  it  is  to  watch  over,  and  in~ 
fluence  the  movements  of  other  countries;  and,  so  far  it 
is  deficient  in  its  system  of  foreign  policy.  Hence  arises 
the  difficulty  of  constituting  a  system  of  government 
which  shall  unite  in  itself  the  threefold  advantage  of 
personal  liberty,  a  strong  executive,  and  an  ample  deve- 
lopement of  the  national  mind  ;  because  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  individual  freedom,  and  great  power  in  the 
executive,  are  continually  operating  to  thwart  and 
counteract  the  efforts  of  each  other ;  and,  without  a 
a  permanently  powerful  executive,  it  is  scarcely  possi- 
ble to  obtain  a  general  developement  of  the  national 
mind  ;  so  as  to  provide  a  regular  succession  of  able  and 
experienced  men,  in  all  the  departments  of  public  ser- 
vice, through  a  series  of  ages. 

The  first  requisite,  the  most  essential  foundation  of  all 
good  government,  the  full  preservation  of  personal  liber- 
ty, and  private  property,  which  may  be  considered  as  the 
sheet-anchor  of  human  society,  is  provided  for  in  a  most 
eminent  degree  by  all  the  American  constitutions,  both 
State  and  Federal.  But  not  one  of  them  all  gives  a  suffi- 
cient scope  and  permanency  of  power  to  its  executive,  nor 
sufficiently  provides  for  the  developement  of  the  nation- 
al mind,  on  a  scale  of  large  and  liberal  information. 
Whence,  consequently,  every  individual  in  the  United 
States  is  called  upon  to  provide,  to  the  utmost  of  his 
ability,  in  his  own  personal  vigilance  over  the  best  in- 
terests of  religion  and  morals,  for  the  deficient  power 
and  energy  of  the  government.  In  most  other  coun- 
tries, the  government  is  all  and  the  people  nothing ; 
whence  they  exhibit  the  melancholy  spectacle  of  capri- 
cious tyrants  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  suffering  slaves 
of  oppression  and  ignorance  on  the  other; — whereas, 
in  the  United  States,  it  is  nearly  the  reverse :  the  people 
are  all,  and  the  government  nothing ;  which  is  the  excess 
of  liberty,  and  imposes  severer  obligations  of  duty  on 
every  free  citizen  to  watch  over  the  welfare  of  the 
public,  the  most  permanent  props  and  buttresses  of 
which  welfare  are  the  strict  preservation  and  genera] 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  j  J  | 

diffusion  of  pure  religion  and  sound  morals,  throughout 
all  the  different  orders  of  the  community. 

Whatever  political  relation  subsisted  between  the 
American  colonies  antecedent  to  the  revolution,  in 
1776,  as  constituent  parts  of  the  British  empire,  or  as 
dependencies  upon  it,  was  completely  dissolved  from 
the  moment  of  the  declaration  of  American  indepen- 
dence ;  for,  from  that  moment  they  became,  severally, 
independent  and  sovereign  States,  possessing  all  the 
rights,  jurisdictions,  and  authority  that  other  sovereign 
States,  however  constituted  or  named,  possess;  and 
bound  by  no  ties,  legal  or  political,  but  of  their  own 
creation,  excepting  those  by  which  all  other  civilized 
nations  are  equally  bound ;  and  which,  together,  con- 
stitute the  conventional  and  customary  law  of  nations. 
The  Constitution,  considered  as  a  federal  compact,  or 
alliance  between  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  does 
not  differ  from  other  national  compacts;  but,  considered 
as  an  original  social  compact,  it  is  novel  and  unique. 
The  American  revolution  gave  birth  to  this  system  of 
polity ;  and  in  the  States,  generally,  a  written  Constitu- 
tion was  framed,  and  adopted  by  the  people,  both  in 
their  individual  and  sovereign  capacity  and  character. 

The  advantages  of  a  written  Constitution  are  many 
and  obvious;  power,  when  undefined,  has  a  perpetual 
tendency  to  become  absolute  ;  and  the  investigation  of 
social  rights,  when  there  is  no  constitutional  text  to 
consult  for  their  explanation,  is  a  task  difficult  to  accom- 
plish, and  almost  useless  when  performed.  As  it  is 
necessary  to  the  preservation  of  a  free  government, 
established  upon  the  principles  of  a  representative  repub- 
lic, that  every  man  should  know  his  own  rights,  it  is 
also  necessary  to  be  able,  on  all  occasions,  to  refer  to 
them.  Where  the  sovereignty  is  vested  in  the  people, 
government  is  a  subordinate  power,  and  the  mere  crea- 
ture of  the  people's  will ;  it  ought,  therefore,  to  be  so 
constructed  that  its  operations  may  be  the  subject  of 
constant  observation  and  severe  scrutiny.  By  com- 
paring the  principles  of  the  civil  polity  of  the  United 
States  with  their  effects  upon  the  progress  of  the  Ame- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

rican  government,  and  the  spirit  of  the  American  people, 
we  should  be  led  to  appreciate  the  municipal  institutions 
of  this  country  at  their  true  value.  And,  perhaps,  it 
would  be  adviseable  to  derive  the  elements  of  a  legal 
and  parliamentary  education  in  the  United  States, 
chiefly  from  the  history  and  constitutions  of  America 
herself;  by  which  means  might  be  imbibed  the  genu- 
ine principles  of  republican  government  from  legiti- 
mate fountains;  and  the  student  also  avoid  the  bias  of 
any  undue  impressions  derived  from  the  artificial  dis- 
tinctions, the  oppressive  establishments,  the  feudal  en- 
croachments, the  ecclesiastical  intolerance  and  mono- 
poly, which  distinguish  and  deform  almost  all  the  na- 
tions of  Europe. 

Undoubtedly  the  British  Constitution,  which,  although 
not  written,  and  therefore  constructive,  is  yet  to  be 
learned  from  various  precedents  respecting  the  royal 
prerogative  on  one  hand,  and  the  privileges  of  the  peo- 
ple on  the  other ;  and  in  which  the  several  powers  of 
government  are  limited,  though  in  an  uncertain  way,  in 
respect  to  each  other,  and  the  three  powers  of  king, 
lords,  and  commons,  combined  together,  are  without  any 
check  at  all  in  the  Constitution  ;  whence  their  union  in 
parliament  has  been  styled  omnipotent,  from  the  sove- 
seignty  of  the  nation  residing  in  that  body ;  and  the  mu- 
nicipal code  of  England,  consisting  of  the  common  or 
customary,  and  the  statute  law,  to  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  which  the  American  lawyers  are  so  early, 
so  deeply,  and  so  constantly  introduced  by  the  prevail- 
ing course  of  their  professional  inquiries  and  practice, 
teem  with  invaluable  principles  of  unstained  justice, 
liberal  equity,  profound  policy,  and  accomplished  social 
order — principles  which  cannot  be  too  generally  known, 
studied,  and  received;  nevertheless,  it  must  be  re- 
membered, that  many  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
the  English  government,  and  many  of  the  maxims  of 
English  jurisprudence,  are  utterly  subversive  of  an 
equality  of  political  rights,  and  totally  incompatible  with 
the  republican  form  and  spirit  of  the  American  institu- 
tions and  establishments.  We  must,  therefore,  care- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  |j 3 

fully  distinguish  between  the  principles  which  per- 
vade the  British,  and  the  genius  which  quickens  the 
American  governments ;  and  cultivate  a  correct  ac- 
quaintance with  republican  maxims,  and  cherish  a  devo- 
ted attachment  to  the  systems  of  liberty  and  justice, 
established  in  these  United  States.  This  subject  is 
elaborately  and  ably  unfolded  by  Mr.  Chancellor  Kent, 
in  the  Introduction  to  his  Course  of  Lectures  on  Law, 
delivered  in  Columbia  College^ 

All  the  American  Constitutions,  as  well  those  of  the 
separate  as  of  the  United  States,  are  based  on  an 
equality  of  civil  and  religious  rights  in  all  the  people, 
except  the  negro  slaves,  and  an  entire  absence  of  all 
privileged  orders,  and  politico-religious  establishments. 
They  differ  from  all  other  governments,  ancient  and 
modern,  in  being  altogether  elective  and  representative ; 
and  in  consisting  of  so  many  different  State  sovereign- 
ties, with  a  general  or  federal  head.  The  existence  of 
the  State  sovereignties,  with  each  its  separate  executive, 
legislative,  and  judicial  departments,  provides  for  all 
the  purposes  01  municipal  and  local  regulation,  and 
admits  of  any  extent  of  territory,  and  any  increase  of 
population,  without  danger  or  inconvenience;  while 
the  general  government  is  organized  to  watch  over  the 
national  interests*  to  maintain  due  intercourse  with 
foreign  powers^  and  determine  the  momentous  ques- 
tions of  peace  and  war.  Many  persons  in  this  country, 
and  Europeans  generally,  express  their  conviction  that 
the  present  form  of  our  government  cannot  last  long ; 
but  that  the  American  confederacy  will  be  speedily  dis- 
solved by  its  own  intrinsic  weakness,  and  prodigious 
extent  of  territory. 

But  a  closer,  and  more  patient  inspection,  probably, 
would  induce  them  to  believe  in  the  continuance  of  trie 
union,  and  the  perpetuity  of  free  and  popular  institu- 
tions. We  have  the  authority  of  two  Distinguished 
statesmen  of  the  present  day  for  believing  in  the  dura- 
tion of  our  republican  institutions ;  the  one  a  foreigner, 
the  other  a  native.  A  French  philosopher,  Barbe  de 
Marbois,  in  speculating  upon  this  subject,  says,  "  The 

15 


1 14  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

experience  of  past  ages,  the  recollection  of  human  revo« 
lutions,  excites  some  disquietude  in  relation  to  the  future 
destinies  of  the  United  States.  The  usual  consequen- 
ces are  apprehended  from  the  movements  of  private 
ambition,  the  inequality  of  fortunes,  the  love  of  con- 
quest. But,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which 
the  United  States  are  placed,  the  past  cannot  serve  as 
a  criterion  for  the  future.  It  is  true,  that  free  nations 
have  been  lost  in  despotism ;  but  had  those  nations  a 
precise  idea  of  their  rights  and  duties?  Were  they 
acquainted  with  the  tutelary  institutions  of  this  day,  the 
independence  of  the  judiciary,  the  trial  by  jury,  thesystem 
of  representative  assemblies  and  self  taxation,  the  force 
of  public  opinion,  now  superior  to  all  opposition? 
Among  the  ancients,  liberty  was  but  a  feeling  ;  in  our 
times,  it  is  both  a  feeling  and  a  positive  science.  We 
all  know  how  liberty  is  lost;  we  are  all  acquainted  with 
the  means  of  defending  and  preserving  it.  The  United 
States  have  now  been  happy  and  free  for  nearly  half  a 
century.  Liberty  has  struck  deep  root  in  the  country; 
it  is  entwined  with  the  first  affections  of  the  heart;  it 
enters  into  the  earliest  combinations  of  thought ;  it  is 
spun  into  the  primitive  staple  of  the  mental  frame  of  the 
Americans ;  it  is  wrought  into  the  very  stamina  of  all 
their  institutions,  political  and  social ;  it  thoroughly 
pervades,  and  perceptibly  modifies  even  their  domestic 
life ;  it  is  protected  by  religion  and  the  laws ;  it  is 
linked  with  every  habit,  opinion,  and  interest ;  it  has,  in 
fine,  become  the  common  reason,  and  the  want  of  all 
the  American  people.  Propose  slavery  to  such  a  peo- 
ple; talk  to  them  of  unity  in  the  head;  multiply  your 
sophisms  as  you  please,  to  prove  to  them  the  paternity 
of  arbitrary  power,  they  will  never  understand  you. 
We  must  not  suppose  that  the  love  of  conquest,  that 
fatal  passion,  will  master  or  lead  astray  the  councils  of 
a  nation,  which,  setting  out  from  a  line  of  nearly  fifteen 
hundred  leagues  of  coast,  may  spread  the  noble  and 
hallowed  empire  of  industry  and  the  arts  from  the  shores 
of  the  Northern  Ocean  to  those  of  the  Pacific." 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  |  j  5 

The  late  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  who  was  one  of 
the  most  able,  splendid,  and  efficient  of  the  statesmen 
that  framed  the  Federal  Constitution,  in  a  private  letter, 
written  to  a  friend  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  ex- 
presses himself  thus :  "  Those  who  formed  our  Consti- 
tution were  not  blind  to  its  defects ;  they  believed  a 
republican  government  to  be  the  best ;  they  believed  a 
monarchial  form  to  be  neither  solid  nor  durable  ;  they 
conceived  it  to  be  vigorous  or  feeble,  active  or  slothful, 
wise  or  foolish,  mild  or  cruel,  just  or  unjust,  according 
to  the  personal  character  of  the  prince.  It  is  a  dupery 
to  cite  the  duration  of  the  French  monarchy  at  eight 
centuries.  In  that  period,  the  provinces  which  lately 
composed  it  passed,  by  various  fortune,  from  their  sub- 
jection to  Rome,  through  the  conquests  of  barbarians, 
the  ferociousness  of  feudal  aristocracy,  and  the  horrors 
of  anarchy  and  civil  war,  to  their  union  under  the  Bour- 
bons. That  union  was  not  consolidated  until  the  soar- 
ing spirit  of  Richlieu,  and  the  flexible  temper  of  Mazarin, 
had  tamed  an  indignant  nobility  to  the  yoke  of  obe- 
dience. By  the  vanity,  the  ambition,  and  the  talents  of 
Louis  the  Fourteenth,  France  became  the  terror  of  Eu- 
rope. By  the  facile  immorality  of  the  Regent,  and  the 
lasciviousness  and  feebleness  of  Louis  the  Fifteenth,  she 
sunk  almost  into  contempt.  After  a  few  years  of  dis- 
tempered existence,  under  the  mild  and  virtuous  Louis 
the  Sixteenth,  the  lamp  of  that  boasted  monarchy  was 
extinguished  in  his  blood." — There  are  also  some  very 
shrewd  and  sensible  remarks,  on  the  probable  duration 
of  our  confederated  republic,  in  "  Letters  from  the  South" 
a  work  lately  published  in  this  city. 

The  general,  or  Federal  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  framed  by  a  convention  of  deputies  from  the 
States  of  New-Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
New- York,  New- Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Ma- 
ryland, Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia,  at  a  session,  begun  May  25th,  and  ended  Sep- 
tember 17th,  1787.  It  first  went  into  operation  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1789.  Its  provisions  are,  in  substance, 
these : — All  legislative  powers,  granted  by  the  Constitu- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tion,  are  vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  con- 
sisting of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  The 
,  representatives  are  chosen  every  second  year  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  several  States ;  the  electors  in  each  State 
having  the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the 
most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  Legislature.  The 
representative  must  be  twenty-five  years  old,  have 
been  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  seven  years,  and  be 
an  inhabitant  of  the  State  in  which  he  is  chosen.  Re- 
presentatives and  direct  taxes  are  apportioned  among 
the  several  States,  according  to  their  respective  num- 
bers, determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of 
free  persons,  including  those  bound  to  service,  and  ex- 
cluding Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  per- 
sons. The  actual  enumeration  of  the  people  is  to  be 
made  every  ten  years,  in  the  mode  directed  by  Con- 
gress ;  the  number  of  representatives  not  exceeding  one 
in  thirty  thousand :  only,  each  State  shall  have  at  least 
one  representative.  When  vacancies  happen  in  the 
representation  from  any  State,  the  State  Executive  issues 
writs  of  election  to  fill  them.  The  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives choose  their  Speaker,  and  have  the  sole 
power  of  impeachment. 

On  this  portion  of  the  Federal  Constitution  it  may 
be  observed,  that  the  mode  of  electing  the  members  of 
the  lower  house  of  Congress  varies  in  the  different 
States  according  to  the  various  modes  of  electing  their 
own  representatives,  established  by  the  laws  of  the 
several  States.  In  some,  the  whole  number  to  which 
the  State  is  entitled  is  elected  by  the  whole  people  of 
the  State  ;  in  others,  they  are  distributed  into  election 
districts  ;  in  some,  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  is  requi- 
site; in  others,  only  a  plurality;  in.  some,  residence  of 
the  candidate  in  the  district  is  required ;  in  others,  not. 
The  mode  by  districts,  and  plurality  of  votes  with  resi- 
dence of  .the  candidate,  is  most  general  throughout  the 
Union. 

The  frequent  recurrence  to  the  people,  by  the  fre- 
quency of  elections,  is  a  radical  imperfection  which  per- 
vades all  the  American  constitutions,  both  State  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


117 

federal.  It  has  a  direct  tendency  to  make  the  repre- 
sentatives too  local  in  their  policy,  and  to  induce  them 
rather  to  aim  at  pleasing  their  own  immediate  constitu- 
ents than  to  advance  the  general  good  of  the  nation  at 
large ;  a  measure  which  sometimes  requires  an  appa- 
rent sacrifice  of  the  local  interest  of  the  peculiar  district 
which  they  represent  When  once  seated  in  Congress, 
the  members  should  recollect  that  they  represent  the 
United  States,  as  one  great  empire,  and  not  merely  the 
little  district  of  any  particular  State,  whether  of  Virgi- 
nia, or  of  Rhode-Island,  of  New-York,  or  of  Delaware. 
A  triennial  election  is  quite  frequent  enough  for  the  ge- 
neral government  of  so  extensive  a  country,  and  such  a 
rapidly-increasing  population.  This  frequency  of  elec- 
tion, however,  is  praised  as  the  consummation  of  politi- 
cal excellence,  by  many  writers  and  speakers  on  the 
art  of  government ;  yet  it  seems  to  have  an  immediate 
tendency  to  throw  great  obstacles  in  the  way  of  nation- 
al improvement  and  prosperity.  The  elections,  both  of 
senators  and  representatives,  as  well  in  the  general  as 
in  the  State  governments,  recur  too  often,  particularly 
of  the  lower  branch  of  the  legislature.  South  Carolina 
and  Tennessee  are  the  only  two  States  in  the  Union 
whose  representatives  are  elected  for  so  long  a  term  as 
two  years  ;  in  Connecticut,  and  Rhode-Island,  the  elec- 
tions are  semi-annual ;  in  all  the  other  states,  yearly. 

The  almost  necessary  consequence  of  these  frequent 
elections  is,  that  the  representatives  feel  themselves  too 
dependent  upon  the  will  of  their  constituents ;  whereas, 
they  ought  to  be  left  entirely  free  to  exercise  the  power 
delegated  to  them,  at  their  own  discretion,  and  to  the 
best  of  their  judgment,  for  the  good  of  the  country  at 
large.  The  people  also  are  incessantly  exposed  to  cor- 
ruption, amidst  the  perpetual  intrigue  and  turmoil  of 
frequently  recurring  elections;  whence  incapable  mem- 
bers are  too  liable  to  be  returned  to  the  legislature. 
It  is  a  notorious  fact,  that  in  many  districts  of  the  Union, 
unless  a  representative  follows  and  obeys  the  current 
opinions,  prejudices,  and  passions  of  the  day,  he  will  not 
be  re-elected ;  owing  to  the  running  of  the  popular  tide 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

against  him ;  whatever  may  be  his  other  qualifications. 
Add  to  this,  that  in  consequence  of  the  short  period  of 
public  service,  it  is  not  easy  to  investigate  and  annul 
spurious  elections,  before  the  session  itself  be  at  an  end ; 
whence,  there  is  a  danger,  that  if  a  return  can  be  ob- 
tained, no  matter  by  what  improper  means,  the  irregu- 
lar member,  who  takes  his  seat  of  course,  shall  hold  it 
quite  long  enough,  to  answer  all  his  purposes  of  legis- 
lation. What  is  this  in  effect,  but  offering  a  high  bounty 
by  law,  for  the  employment  of  electioneering  intrigue 
and  fraud,  in  order  to  obtain  a  return  ?  Such  a  system, 
having  an  unavoidable  tendency  to  bewilder  and  corrupt 
the  people,  and  to  induce  them  to  elect  unworthy  repre- 
sentatives, almost  ensures  the  production  of  a  legislature, 
not  the  best  qualified  by  talents,  learning,  wealth,  pro- 
bity, and  character,  to  discharge  so  solemn  and  im- 
portant a  duty,  as  that  of  framing  laws  for  the  well- 
being  of  an  extensive,  powerful,  and  fast-growing  com- 
monwealth. 

A  great  part  of  every  year,  in  every  place  through- 
out the  Union,  is  literally  consumed  in  cabals  and  in- 
trigues, carried  on  between  the  candidates  of  the  seve- 
ral parties  and  the  people;  in  order  to  prepare  and  ac- 
complish all  the  various  manoeuvres  of  electioneering 
tactics,  which  are  put  in  constant  requisition,  by  the 
frequent  recurrence  of  elections  for  representatives, 
both  of  the  separate  and  of  the  United  States.  Whence, 
a  large  portion  of  the  time  which  the  people  ought  to 
employ  in  productive  industry,  is  expended  in  prose- 
cuting the  unprofitable  trade  of  politics.  The  experi- 
ence of  history  shows,  that  the  democratic  forms  of 
government  are  also  in  themselves  liable  to  these  in- 
conveniences ',  namely,  that  they  are  too  tedious  in  com- 
ing to  any  public  resolution,  and  seldom  sufficiently  alert 
and  expeditious  in  carrying  their  resolutions  into  effect; 
that  as  various  minds  are  successively  employed,  they 
are  necessarily  wavering  and  unsteady,  and  scarcely 
ever  persevere  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  measures 
which  they  resolve  to  pursue;  that  they  are  often 
involved  in  factions,  which  expose  the  nation  to  be 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

made  the  instrument,  if  not  the  victim,  of  foreign 
powers.  Now,  frequent  elections  cannot  fail  of  render- 
ing a  government  too  dilatory  in  its  resolves ;  because, 
under  such  circumstances,  no  prudent  administration 
would  ever  venture  upon  any  important  national  mea- 
sure, until  it  had  felt  the  pulse,  not  only  of  the  legisla- 
ture, but  of  the  people  also. 

The  experience  of  history  equally  proves,  that  the 
great  body  of  the  people  in  every  country,  are  prone  to 
be  too  much  elated  by  temporary  success,  and  too  much 
dejected  by  occasional  misfortune.  This  disposition 
alone,  renders  them  perpetually  wavering  in  their 
opinions  about  affairs  of  state,  and  prevents  the  possi- 
bility of  their  ever  long  continuing  steadily  fixed  to  any 
one  point.  And  as  the  House  of  Representatives  is 
chosen  by  the  voice  of  the  general  people,  a  choice  so 
often  renewed,  almost  ensures  the  legislature  to  be  as 
wavering,  and  unsteady  in  their  councils,  as  the  people 
themselves  are,  in  their  sentiments.  And  it  being  impossi- 
ble to  carry  on  the  public  affairs  of  the  executive  govern- 
ment, without  the  concurrence  of  the  lower  house,  the 
administration  is  always  obliged  to  comply  with  the  no- 
tions of  the  leading  members  of  that  house ;  and  con- 
sequently, obliged  to  change  its  measures  as  often  as 
the  populace  change  their  minds.  Whence,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  lay  down,  and  steadily  prosecute  any  plan  for 
the  gradual  developement  of  the  national  resources, 
and  the  gradual  growth  of  the  country,  in  prosperity, 
wealth,  power,  and  influence. 

Besides,  in  all  democratic  governments,  faction  is  con- 
tinually springing,  up  from  the  delusions  perpetually 
played  off  upon  the  collective  wisdom  of  the  multitude. 
While  the  essential  principles  of  human  nature  remain 
the  same,  as  they  ever  have  been ;  there  always  will  be, 
in  every  country,  and  under  every  possible  form  of  go- 
vernment, many  unquiet,  turbulent,  and  unprincipled 
spirits,  who  can  never  be  at  rest,  whether  in  or  out  of 
power.  When  in  possession  of  the  government,  they 
require  every  one  to  submit  entirely  to  their  direction 
and  control ;  in  words,  they  profess  to  be  the  exclusive 


120 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


champions  of  liberty,  in  action,  they  are  the  veriest  ty- 
rants imaginable.  When  out  of  power,  they  are  always 
working  and  intriguing  against  the  government,  without 
any  regard  to  truth,  justice,  or  common  honesty,  or  the 
welfare  of  their  country.  In  popular  governments, 
where  the  election  of  representatives  too  frequently  re- 
curs, such  pernicious  men  have  too  many  opportunities 
of  mischief,  in  working  upon,  deceiving,  and  corrupting 
the  minds  of  the  people ;  in  order  to  inflame  them 
against  those,  who  have  the  management  of  public  af- 
fairs for  the  time  being ;  and  thus,  eventually,  are  ena- 
bled to  ripen  the  discontents  of  the  deluded  multitude, 
into  violent  and  seditious  movements.  Such  are  some  of 
the  evil  consequences,  invariably  resulting  from  the  too 
frequent  recurrence  of  elections,  which  also,  (it  may  be 
remarked,)  necessarily  incapacitates  the  representative 
from  acquiring  an  adequate  acquaintance  with  the  pub- 
lic business  and  real  interests  of  his  country;  owing  to 
the  short  duration  of  his  term  of  service. 

There  are  likewise  some  other  imperfections  grafted 
into  the  system  of  election,  throughout  the  States, 
which  deserve  notice.  The  voting  by  ballot,  instead  of 
viva  voce,  is  accounted  a  wonderful  improvement; 
whereas,  it  excludes  the  open,  wholesome  influence  of 
talent  and  property  at  the  elections ;  and  encourages  a 
perpetual  course  of  intrigue  and  fraud,  by  enabling  the 
cunning  demagogue  to  impose  upon  the  credulity  of  the 
weak  and  ignorant.  Indeed,  the  frauds  practised  by 
the  substitution  of  one  set  of  ballots  for  another,  in  every 
electioneering  campaign  throughout  the  country,  are  in 
themselves  innumerable  and  shameless;  and  the  suc- 
cess of  elections,  generally,  depends  on  the  adroitness 
of  intrigue  exhibited  by  the  more  active  political  par- 
tisans. 

Universal  suffrage,  also,  is  a  favourite  feature  in  our 
republican  system;  except  in  the  State  of  Virginia, 
where  a  respectable  property  in  land  is  the  prescribed 
qualification  of  a  voter;  in  some  of  the  States,  no  pro- 
prietary qualification,  either  in  personal,  or  real  estate, 
is  required,  and  in  the  rest,  (save  Virginia,)  much  too 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


121 


small  a  possession  of  property,  whether  real  or  per- 
sonal, is  suffered  to  qualify  the  electors.  Now,  univer- 
sal suffrage  is  full  of  evil,  without  any  alloy  of  good ; 
for  it  gives  efficiency  and  perpetuity  to  the  anti  social 
conspiracy  of  poverty  against  wealth,  of  cunning  against 
wisdom,  of  knavery  against  integrity,  and  of  confusion 
against  order.  The  necessary  tendencies  of  which  are, 
to  exclude  the  great  talents,  high  character,  and  large 
property  of  the  community,  from  the  administration  of 
government;  which,  under  such  circumstances,  is  too 
apt  to  exhibit  a  scene  of  folly  and  oppression  at  home, 
and  to  become  an  object  of  contempt  and  scorn  abroad. 
The  only  stable  government,  which  can  at  once  secure 
prosperity  to  its  own  people,  and  command  the  respect 
of  foreign  nations,  must  lay  its  foundations  in  the  pre- 
servation and  ascendency  of  property.  No  man  ought 
to  be  allowed  to  vote,  who  is  not  possessed  of  a  free- 
hold in  land ;  that  those,  who  have  the  deepest  stake 
in  the  soil,  may  have  the  most  influence  in  the  country. 
The  States,  however,  generally  require  a  qualifica- 
tion, both  of  property  and  of  age,  in  the  elected ;  which 
seems  to  be  quite  useless ;  since  it  is  fair  to  presume, 
that  a  man  must  have  already  acquired  some  considera- 
ble standing  in  the  community,  before  his  fellow-citizens 
will  hold  him  up  as  a  candidate  for  election,  in  either 
branch  of  the  legislature,  whether  State  or  federal; 
more  especially,  if  the  electors  are  required  to  possess  a 
proprietary  qualification.  Still  less  should  there  be  any 
limitation  as  to  age  ;  for  as  soon  as  a  man  fairly  distin- 
guishes himself  by  his  talents  and  character,  demonstrat- 
ing in  him  a  capacity  for  public  service,  so  soon  has  he 
the  passport  of  God  and  nature  to  the  trust  and  confi- 
dence of  the  community.  How  much  of  zeal  and  talent 
displayed  in  her  service,  would  England  have  lost,  if 
Charles  Fox,  and  William  Pitt  had  been  denied  admit- 
tance into  the  House  of  Commons  until  they  had  reached 
their  thirtieth  year ;  instead  of  obtaining  an  entrance  in- 
to Parliament  as  soon  as  they  had  passed  the  age  of 
twenty-one ! 

16 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

It  is  somewhat  singular,  that  a  republic  professing  to 
establish  full  toleration,  and  give  equal  political  rights  to 
every  religious  sect,  should  in  so  many  instances  exclude 
the  clergy  from  a  seat  in  the  legislature.  This  exclu- 
sion occurs  in  the  constitutions  of  New-York,  Maryland, 
Kentucky,  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Smith,  in  his  Comparative  View  of  the  Constitutions, 
makes  some  very  sensible  and  spirited  observations  on 
the  exclusion  of  the  clergy  from  all  official  and  legisla- 
tive privileges,  as  well  as  on  all  the  prominent  features 
of  the  Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  which  existed  in 
the  year  1796. 

The  disqualification  of  the  clergy  in  so  many  States, 
seems  either  a  remnant  of  the  old  Gothic  policy,  trans- 
mitted from  times  when  ecclesiastics  were  immured  in 
monasteries,  though  even  then,  ecclesiastics  did  greatly 
guide  the  political  movements  of  nations ;  or,  perhaps  it 
is  copied  from  the  practice  of  the  British  government, 
(some  years  since,  backed  by  a  statute  passed  in  order 
to  keep  Home  Tooke  out  of  Parliament,)  which  ex- 
cludes them  from  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons,  un- 
der pretence  of  their  being  represented  in  convocation 
although  both  the  upper  and  lower  Houses  of  Convoca- 
tion have  been  abolished  for  more  than  a  century,  anc 
the  bishops  are  allowed  to  sit  in  the  House  of  Lords; 
wherefore,  according  to  the  well-known  maxim,  cessante 
ratione,  cessat  et  ipsa  lex,  as  the  English  clergy  are  not 
now  represented  in  convocation,  they  ought  to  be  repre- 
sented in  Parliament;  or,  lastly,  their  disquali6cation  in 
the  States,  is  the  offspring  of  a  misguided  jealousy  to- 
wards the  clerical  order,  on  the  part  of  the  laity. 

The  expediency  of  admitting  into  the  legislature  the 
clergy,  ought  to  be  left  to  their  own  sense  of  propriety, 
to  the  feelings  and  wishes  of  their  congregations,  to  the 
rules  and  ordinances  of  the  religious  body  to  which  they 
belong,  and  to  the  good  sense,  discretion,  and  opinion  oi 
the  electors.  When  the  laity  undertake  to  exclude  the 
clergy  by  constitutional  regulations,  the  exclusion  sa- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


123 


rours  strongly  of  political  intolerance ;  it  is,  in  fact,  dis- 
franchising the  whole  of  a  very  respectable  and  im- 
portant class  of  the  community.  The  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  contains  no  such  exclusion ;  and  the 
experience  of  nearly  thirty  years  has  not  demonstrated 
either  its  necessity  or  its  use.  After  all,  perhaps  the 
exercise  of  the  religious  duties  of  ecclesiastical  life  are 
not  quite  compatible  with  the  incessant  agitations  of  act- 
ive politics;  and  doubtless,  the  Saviour  of  the  world 
himself,  delivered  an  awful  lesson  of  denunciation  against 
earthly  avarice  and  ambition,  when  he  emphatically  de- 
clared, that  his  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  Never- 
theless, the  admission  into  the  legislative  councils  of  their 
country,  ought  to  be  left  to  the  individual  discretion  of 
the  clergy  themselves,  and  of  those  with  whom  they  are 
connected ;  they  ought  not  to  be  disfranchised  of  a  great 
political  right,  to  which  they  are  justly  entitled,  in  com- 
mon with  all  the  rest  of  their  fellow-citizens,  by  any 
municipal  regulations  of  a  free  and  popular  government. 
The  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  composed  of  two 
Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by  its  legislature  for 
six  years ;  each  Senator  has  one  vote.  They  are  divi- 
ded into  three  classes;  the  seats  of  the  Senators  of  the 
first  class,  are  vacated  at  the  expiration  of  the  second ; 
of  the  second  class,  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth ;  of  the 
third  class,  at  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year;  so  that 
one-third  of  the  Senate  is  chosen  every  second  year. 
If  any  vacancy  happen,  during  the  recess  of  a  State  le- 
gislature, the  State  executive  may  make  a  temporary 
appointment,  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature, 
which  then  fills  up  the  vacancy,  either  by  a  new  appoint- 
ment, or  by  sanctioning  that  of  the  executive.  A  Sena- 
tor must  be  thirty  years  old,  have  been  nine  years  a  ci- 
tizen of  the  United  States,  and  be  an  inhabitant  of  the 
State  for  which  he  is  chosen.  The  Vice  President  of 
the  United  States  is  president  of  the  Senate,  but  has  no 
vote,  unless  the  House  is  equally  divided.  The  Senate 
chooses  its  other  officers,  and  a  president  pro  tempore, 
in  the  absence  of  the  Vice  President ;  or  when  he  exer- 
cises the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States.  The 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  WITED  STATES. 

Senate  tries  all  impeachments,  and  when  so  sitting  is  on 
its  oath  or  affirmation.  When  the  President  of  the  United 
States  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States 
presides ;  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  members 
present  is  necessary  to  conviction.  In  cases  of  impeach- 
ment, judgment  only  extends  to  removal  from  the  exist- 
ing office,  and  disqualification  for  any  other  office  of 
honour,  trust,  or  profit,  under  the  United  States  ;  leav- 
ing the  party  convicted  liable  to  indictment,  trial,  judg- 
ment, and  punishment,  according  to  law. 

The  modes  of  appointing  the  Senators  of  the  United 
States  vary  in  different  States ;  they  are  generally  regu- 
lated by  State  statute.  In  some,  one  house  nominates  to 
the  other  till  both  concur ;  in  others,  both  houses  unite 
in  convention,  and  make  a  joint  choice ;  the  first  is  called 
a  concurrent,  the  last  a  joint  vote.  Both  modes  are  either 
viva  voce,  or  by  ballot.  In  the  first  mode,  the  Senate 
possesses  the  same  equal  power  with  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives, which  they  nave  in  every  other  legislative 
act,  and  of  which  they  ought  not  to  be  deprived  in  so  im- 
portant a  measure  as  this.  In  the  last  mode,  their  num- 
bers being  always  smaller  than  those  of  the  lower  house, 
their  influence  is,  of  course,  proportionally  smaller.  The 
mode  by  joint  vote,  and  joint  ballot,  is  the  most  preva- 
lent ;  the  representatives,  being  the  more  popular  branch, 
too  generally  carry  their  point  against  the  Senate. 

The  duration  of  the  Senators  of  the  United  States  for 
six  years,  is  well  calculated  to  give  system  and  stability 
to  this  important  branch  of  the  general  government,  more 
especially  as  it  acts  a  judicial  part  in  the  trial  of  impeach- 
ments ;  and  discharges  executive  functions,  in  appointing 
public  officers,  and  in  making  treaties  with  foreign  pow- 
ers. In  many  of  the  State  Constitutions,  pecuniary 
qualifications  are  required  in  all  candidates  lor  public 
office ;  in  the  Federal  Constitution  none  is  required, 
either  in  the  Representatives,  Senators,  or  President. 
Perhaps  it  would  be  always  most  prudent  to  throw  the 
proprietary  qualification  upon  the  elector,  the  person  who 
votes;  because  men  without  property,  generally,  not 
only  fe«l  less  solicitude  for  the  public  tranquillity  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


125 


welfare,  inasmuch  as  they  have  less  stake  in  the  country, 
but  are  also  more  open  to  the  seductive  influence  of  cor- 
ruption. Whereas,  it  is  fair  to  presume,  that  men  who 
are  sufficiently  distinguished  to  appear  as  candidates  for 
public  office,  when  the  power  of  voting  is  confined  to 
those  who  have  a  stake  of  property  in  the  soil,  will  be 
sufficiently  qualified  by  talents  and  information  to  discern 
the  real  interests  of  their  country,  whether  they  them- 
selves possess  property  or  not.  Indeed,  it  is  fair  to  infer 
that  candidates  for  the  federal  legislature  will,  generally, 
be  men  of  some  property  also,  as  well  as  men  distin- 
guished in  their  respective  States  for  political  talents  and 
character. 

It  is  of  the  greatest  moment  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  commonwealth,  that  the  Senate  should  be  stable  in 
duration,  and  efficient  in  power;  because  it  is  the  only 
proper  and  effectual  check  upon  the  haste  and  passion 
by  which  the  legislative  resolutions  of  any  single  assem- 
bly, derived  immediately  from  the  people,  are  liable  to 
be  influenced.  The  institution  of  a  Senate  affords  an 
opportunity  for  the  deliberations  of  the  one  legislative 
body  to  correct  the  precipitancy  of  the  other,  not  only 
because  the  legislators  are  divided  into  two  separate 
branches ;  but  also  because  the  component  parts  of  each 
separate  branch  will,  probably,  be  different;  and,. con- 
sequently a  different  system  and  spirit  will  grow  up  from 
the  difference  of  organization  in  the  two  bodies ;  thus 
serving  as  a  salutary  constraint  upon  the  public  move- 
ments of  each  other.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  se- 
parate States,  throughout  the  Union,  do  not  in  general 
imitate  this  valuable  provision  in  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion ;  for  the  State  Senates  are,  too  frequently,  either 
chosen  for  so  short  a  time,  or  so  immediately  by  the  peor 
pie,  that  they  cannot  exist  as  a  legislative  body,  watch- 
ing over,  controlling,  and  directing,  for  the  common 
good,  the  wayward  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  more 
uninformed  portion  of  the  community. 

The  State  of  Maryland  is  an  honourable  exception  to 
this  general  and  radical  error  in  the  formation  of  govern- 
ment. By  the  Constitution  of  that  State,  electors  are 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

appointed  for  the  express  purpose  of  choosing  Senators ; 
and  are  bound  by  oath  to  select  men  distinguished  for 
their  wisdom,  talents,  and  virtues.  The  Senators  are 
elected  for  five  years.  The  benefits  of  thus,  in  a  great 
measure,  securing  the  independence  of  the  Senate  upon 
the  people,  have  often  been  felt  in  Maryland  during  the 
earlier  years  of  American  sovereignty.  On  many  occa- 
sions the  integrity  and  firmness  of  the  Senators  opposed 
and  overruled  the  tumultuous  passions,  and  disorganizing 
shocks  of  the  more  popular  branch  of  the  legislature. 
There  is  very  little  resembling  the  wisdom  of  this  insti- 
tution in  other  parts  of  the  American  body  politic,  ex- 
cept the  appointment,  by  electors,  of  State  Senators  in 
Kentucky,  of  federal  Senators  by  the  separate  State 
legislatures,  and  of  the  President  and  Vice  President  of 
the  United  States  by  electors.  In  the  other  States  of 
the  Union,  the  election  of  Senators,  immediately  by  the 
people,  almost  necessarily  ensures  a  perpetuity  of  in- 
trigue and  cabal,  and  renders  the  Senators  themselves 
too  dependent  upon  the  leading  demagogues  in  the  seve- 
ral districts.  As  the  Senate  ought  to  be  a  salutary 
check  upon  the  precipitancy  and  passion  of  the  more 
popular  branch,  it  should  be  constituted  in  some  mode 
different  from  that  of  the  House  of  Representatives — 
either  by  electors  or  by  the  people,  modified  and  restrict- 
ed in  their  votes  by  some  particular  proprietary  qualifi- 
cations. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  "  Notes  on  Virginia,"  condemns 
the  Constitution  of  that  great  State  for  having  overlook- 
ed this  important  provision  in  all  good  government.  His 
observations  are  extremely  judicious,  and  well  worthy  a 
most  attentive  perusal.  In  Maryland  and  Kentucky 
alone,  the  mode  of  choosing  Senators  by  electors  prevails. 
In  several  of  the  other  States  the  voters  for  Senators 
must  have  a  greater  pecuniary  qualification  than  voters 
for  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature ;  and  the  Senators 
themselves  must  possess  more  property  than  the  repre- 
sentatives. In  other  countries,  whatever  be  the  form  of 
government,  the  upper  or  checking  branch  of  the  legis- 
lature may  emanate  from  some  source  different  from  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


127 


will  of  the  people ;  but  in  the  United  States  all  political 
power,  according  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  every  Ameri- 
can Constitution,  whether  State  or  federal,  must  flow 
either  mediately  or  immediately  from  the  same  fountain — 
the  choice  of  the  people — in  whom  alone  the  essential 
sovereignty  of  this  extended  empire  resides;  wherefore, 
in  order  to  invigorate  the  Senate  with  an  adequate  con- 
trolling power,  it  is  necessary  to  render  it  less  depend- 
ent upon  the  fluctuating  will  of  the  people  than  is  the 
House  of  Representatives.  This  can  only  be  done  by 
one  or  other  of  the  modes  above  suggested.  The  plan 
adopted  by  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Kentucky  ap- 
pears to  be  the  best. 

The  times  of  greatest  peril  to  all  democratic  govern- 
ments are  derived  from  the  contagious  spreading  over 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  those  violent  passions 
which  occasionally  agitate  the  people  in  every  free 
country;  and  this  contagious  influence  of  popular  passion 
and  fury  must  be  generally  diffused  over  the  representa- 
tive branch  of  the  legislature,  in  every  place  where  an- 
nual elections  prevail.  If  the  Senate  be  elected  imme- 
diately by  the  people,  will  it  not  necessarily  be  subject 
to  the  influence  of  the  same  popular  passions,  and  so  lose 
all  power  of  effectually  checking  the  occasional  phrensy 
of  the  lower  house  ?  The  longer  duration  of  the  Senate, 
which  exists  in  many  of  the  States,  in  some  measure 
counterbalances  the  evils  necessarily  attendant  upon  the 
prevailing  mode  of  electing  Senators;  and  the  experi- 
ence of  the  American  people  has,  in  all  the  recent  revi- 
sions of  their  State  Constitutions,  (excepting  that  of 
Georgia,)  induced  them  to  increase  the  term  of  Senato- 
rial service.  The  Senators  of  the  United  States  are 
elected  for  six  years ;  those  of  Maryland  for  five  years ; 
of  New- York,  Pennsylvania,  Kentucky,  Virginia,  South 
Carolina,  and  Louisiana,  for  four  years ;  of  Ohio  for  two 
years  ;  and  of  Delaware  and  Mississippi  for  three  years. 
In  order  to  unite  firmness,  stability,  and  system  in  the 
upper  house,  together  with  sufficient  dependence  and 
responsibibility  in  the  Senators,  all  these  constitutions, 
excepting  those  of  Maryland  and  Kentucky,  have  esta- 


1 28  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATtS 

blished  the  plan  of  rotation;  by  which  an  adequate 
permanency  is  supposed  to  be  combined  with  the  neces- 
sary change.  The  mode  and  frequency  of  rotation  vary 
in  almost  all  the  State  Constitutions  ;  but  the  result  is, 
in  all,  the  same  ;  that  of  periodically  infusing  new  mem- 
bers into  a  permanent  legislative  body. 

In  the  federal  government  there  13  a  biennial  rotation 
of  one-third  of  the  Senators ;  in  the  State  governments 
of  New- York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  Louisiana, 
an  annual  rotation  of  one-fourth;  in  that  of  Ohio  and 
South  Carolina,  a  biennial  rotation  of  one-half;  in  those 
of  Delaware  and  Mississippi,  an  annual  rotation  of  one- 
third.  In  Maryland  the  Senators  sit  for  five  years  ;  and 
in  Kentucky  for  four;  but  without  rotation.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice,  that  in  the  eastern,  or  New-England 
States,  no  senatorial  check  upon  the  precipitancy  of  the 
lower  house  has  been  adopted.  Their  institutions  are 
the  most  democratic  in  the  whole  Union.  In  New- 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode-Island,  and  Vermont, 
the  Senates,  or  Councils,  are  elected  annually,  as  are 
also  the  Council  of  New-Jersey,  and  the  Senates  of 
North  Carolina  and  Georgia.  The  habits  of  order  and 
moderation,  together  with  the  general  diffusion  of  ele- 
mentary intelligence,  throughout  the  New-England 
States,  render  a  check  upon  the  popular  branch  of  the 
legislature  less  necessary  than  in  countries  not  so  fa- 
vourably circumstanced.  It  is,  however,  dangerous  to 
trust  altogether  to  the  influence  of  personal  feeling  and 
individual  habit  in  national  affairs ;  more  especially 
when  counteracted  by  the  force  of  fixed  and  positive 
institutions. 

The  reason  of  this  omission  in  the  eastern  States,  in 
New-Jersey,  and  in  North  Carolina,  probably  !,is, '  that 
their  Constitutions  were  all,  excepting  that  of  Vermont, 
made  during  the  heat  and  fury  of  the  revolutionary  war, 
when  they  had  little  experience  to  guide  them  in  the 
formation  of  governments;  and,  above  all,  when  the 
arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  Royal  Councils  of  the 
mother  country  had  created  a  considerable  antipathy  in 
the  leaders  of  the  infant  republics  to  executive  councils. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  J29 

and  senatorial  branches.  As  to  Vermont,  though  her 
Constitution  was  made  so  recently  as  July,  1793,  yet  the 
newly  settled  state  of  the  country  could  not  be  expected 
to  furnish  forth  the  most  profound  legislators,  and  en- 
lightened statesmen.  With  respect  to  Georgia  the  re- 
cent change  in  the  duration  of  her  Senate,  from  three 
years  to  one,  is  not  so  easily  accounted  for.  She  ap- 
pears to  retrocede  in  the  science  of  government,  while 
her  sister  States  are  advancing  in  improvement.  The 
Constitutions  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode-Island  are  sub- 
stantially the  old  charters,  obtained  from  Charles  the 
Second;  those  of  Massachusetts,  New-Jersey,  and  North 
Carolina,  were  framed  in  1776,  and  1780;  those  of  the 
United  States,  Pennsylvania,  Kentucky,  South  Carolina 
Ohio,  Tennessee,  Louisiana,  Indiana,  and  Mississippi, 
were  established  since  the  year  1787  ;  those  of  New- 
York  and  Maryland  were  made  during  the  revolutiona- 
ry war,  in  1776  and  1777;  and,  considering  that  cir- 
cumstance, it  is  surprising  that  they  contain  such  judi- 
cious arrangements  in  respect  to  the  Senate. 

It  is  to  be  hoped,  that  whenever  the  New-England 
States  revise  their  Constitutions,  they  will  make  their 
Senate  more  independent  of  the  fluctuations  of  the  po- 
pular will,  and  render  them  more  efficient  checks  to 
the  occasional  precipitancy  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. The  Senates  of  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  ar?d 
Kentucky,  have  power  to  fill  up  their  own  vacancies. 
In  the  United  States  the  senatorial  vacancies  are  sup- 
plied by  the  State  legislatures ;  in  almost  all  the  sepa- 
rate States  they  are  filled  by  popular  election.  Thus, 
by  the  very  mode  of  their  election,  and  the  brief  term 
of  their  duration,  are  the  Senators  of  many  of  the  Ame- 
rican States  almost  necessarily  induced  to  become 
rather  the  suitors  of  a  fickle  and  fantastic  popularity 
than,  as  they  ought  to  be,  the  steady  guardians  of  the 
people's  welfare ;  often,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  po- 
pular passion  and  clamour.  Those  who  are  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  people,  can  seldom  render  any 
essential  service  to  the  State  by  the  wisdom  or  firm- 
ness of  their  legislation.  Such  men  incur  the  unavoid- 

17 


1 30  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

able  hazard  of  becoming  the  parasites,  instead  of  the 
lawgivers ;  the  instruments,  not  the  directors  of  the 
people.  Under  such  circumstances,  if  any  one  should 
happen  to  be  so  imprudently  honest,  as  to  propose  a 
plan,  which  by  restraining  the  licentiousness  of  anar- 
chy, might  augment  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the 
commonwealth,  his  more  artful  compeers  would  have  a 
fine  opportunity  of  throwing  him  out  at  the  next  elec- 
tion, by  loud  and  long  harangues  upon  the  essential 
majesty,  the  immutable  sovereignty,  the  collective  wis- 
dom, the  immaculate  virtue  of  the  multitude.  Nay, 
even  those  who  profess  to  deceive,  in  order  to  benefit 
the  people,  must  soon  find,  that  by  propagating  mis- 
chievous and  disorganizing  doctrines,  they  render  it  im- 
possible at  any  future  period,  to  induce  the  multitude 
to  submit  to  the  wholesome  restraints  of  justice  and 
order. 

The  times,  places,  and  manner,  of  holding  elections 
for  federal  Senators  and  Representatives,  are  prescribed 
in  each  State,  by  the  legislature ;  subject,  however,  to 
the  alterations  of  Congress,  by  law,  except  as  to  the 
places  of  choosing  Senators.  Congress  must  assemble, 
at  least  once  in  every  year,  on  the  first  day  of  Decem- 
ber, unless  they,  by  law,  appoint  a  different  day.  Each 
house  is  judge  of  the  elections,  returns,  and  qualifica- 
tions of  its  own  members;  and  a  majority  of  each  con- 
stitutes a  quorum  to  transact  business;  but  a  smaller 
number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  compel  the 
attendance  of  absent  members,  under  penalties  provided 
by  each  house.  Each  house  determines  the  rules  of  its 
proceedings,  punishes  its  members  for  disorderly  beha- 
viour, and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds,  expels  a 
member.  Each  house  keeps  a  journal  of  its  proceed- 
ings, and  publishes  whatever  it  is  not  deemed  necessary 
to  conceal.  Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Con- 
gress, can,  without  the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for 
more  than  three  days ;  nor  to  any  other  place  than  that 
in  which  the  two  houses  are  sitting.  The  Senators  and 
Representatives  receive  a  compensation  for  their  services, 
ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  J31 

United  States.  They  are,  in  all  cases,  excepting  trea- 
son, felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace,  privileged  from 
arrest  during  their  attendance  at  the  session  of  their  re- 
spective houses,  and  in  going  to,  and  returning  from,  the 
same ;  nor  can  they  be  questioned  in  any  other  place, 
for  any  speech,  or  debate,  in  either  house. 

No  Senator  or  Representative  can,  during  the  time  for 
which  he  is  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  un- 
der the  authority  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  have 
been  created,  or  the  emoluments  of  which  shall  have 
been  increased,  during  such  time;  and  no  person,  hold- 
ing any  office  under  the  United  States,  can  be  a  member 
of  either  house  during  his  continuance  in  office. 

The  excluding  the  executive,  or  cabinet-officers,  from 
a  seat  in  the  legislature,  is  a  favourite  position  in  the 
American  Constitutions :  its  wisdom,  however,  may  rea- 
sonably be  questioned ;  and,  perhaps,  a  little  examina- 
tion will  show  this  scheme  to  be  rather  a  subtle  refine- 
ment in  political  theory,  than  a  sound,  practical  improve- 
ment in  the  art  of  government.  For  executive  officers, 
although  excluded  from  the  legislature,  must  govern  the 
whole  country ;  and  as  they  do  actually  possess  the 
highest  rank,  influence,  and  power,  in^the  nation,  their 
places  will  always  be  the  great  objects  of  political  am- 
bition. To  say,  that  the  legislature  would  have  no  con- 
cern with  these  men,  and  that  the  chief  executive  ma- 
gistrate, whether  President,  Emperor,  or  King,  might 
change  or  appoint  them  at  his  own  mere  will  and  plea- 
sure, without  producing  the  least  sensation  in  the  Re- 
presentative Assembly,  would  be  idle.  The  legislature 
would  be  bound  by  a  sense  of  duty — (in  the  United 
States  the  Senate  is  constitutionally  bound) — to  con- 
cern itself  in  all  such  nominations;  and  would  undoubt- 
edly take  such  concern,  from  the  still  more  imperative 
motives  of  personal  interest,  of  political  considerations, 
of  the  ties  of  blood  and  affection. 

The  only  practical  effect,  produced  by  excluding  go- 
vernment-officers from  a  seat  in  the  legislature  is,  that 
the  parliamentary  debates  are  conducted  by  deputies, 
whom  each  set  of  ministers  employ  to  maintain  their 


132 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


cause,  while  they  are  themselves  transacting  the  busi- 
ness of  their  office.  Ambitious  men  are  obliged  to  con- 
tend for  the  preservation  of  their  places,  by  an  inferior 
order  of  reasoners  and  speakers ;  and  the  ambition  which 
ought  to  bring  the  loftiest  talents  of  the  country  into 
open  competition,  on  the  deliberative  floor  of  the  nation, 
is  confined,  chiefly,  to  the  more  dangerous  and  uncon- 
trollable intrigues  of  the  executive  cabinet;  while  the 
legislature  is  left  to  a  secondary  race  of  men,  who  strug- 
gle for  their  respective  chiefs. 

It  is,  likewise,  deemed  to  be  a  marvellous  improve- 
ment in  the  modern  system  of  political  economy,  to 
mete  out  a  meagre  subsistence  to  the  public  servants  of 
a  country,  and  to  calculate,  to  a  single  dollar,  the  exact 
amount  of  bodily  and  mental  labour,  for  which  a  given 
salary  is  to  be  equivalent.  Accordingly,  there  is  not  a 
sufficient  stipend  allowed  to  any  American  public  officer, 
whether  executive,  or  judicial,  or  ministerial,  or  naval, 
or  military,  to  enable  him  to  support  the  decent  exte- 
rior of  a  gentleman.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  himself,  receives  only  a  little  more  than^foc  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling  a  year,  the  Vice  President,  and 
Secretary  of  State,  about  one  thousand  sterling  per  an- 
num ;  and  the  inferior  government  officers,  in  due  de- 
scending proportion.  And  the  officers  of  the  separate 
States,  are  worse  paid  than  those  of  the  United  States. 

This  doctrine  also,  is  a  theoretic  illusion,  and  a  prac- 
tical evil ;  for  in  every  civilized,  opulent,  and  thriving 
society,  a  certain  magnificence  of  expenditure,  is  an  in- 
dispensable part  of  official  greatness;  and  if  the  high 
places  of  the  State  do  not  afford  sufficient  means  to 
maintain  their  possessor  with  due  dignity,  they  are  ne- 
cessarily left  to  the  acquisition  of  minds  of  an  inferior 
order.  Whence,  the  most  important  offices  are  likely 
to  be  filled  by  persons  of  subordinate  talents ;  and  men 
of  genius,  being  virtually  excluded  from  the  helm  of  go- 
vernment, are  tempted  to  oppose  and  disturb  a  system, 
which  might,  under  a  more  liberal  order  of  things,  have 
relied  upon  them  as  its  surest  bulwarks  of  support; 
and  above  all,  this  mistaken  policy  actually  prevents 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.  133 

the  developement  of  great  talents  on  a  large  scale,  by 
withholding  all  opportunities  of  national  exertion.  So 
that  in  fact,  this  State  parsimony  is  the  worst  of  all 
possible  State  extravagance ;  inasmuch,  as  it  blights  the 
growth  of  intellect,  and  squanders  away  the  mind  of 
the  country. 

Mr.  Thomas  Paine,  in  his  celebrated  compendium  of 
modern  politics,  called  The  Rights  of  Man,  undertakes 
to  demonstrate,  that  no  free  people,  if  they  be  wise, 
will  ever  give  more  than  three  thousand  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  a  year  to  their  Chief  Magistrate,  whe- 
ther called  President  or  King;  and  he  proceeds  to 
prove,  how  any  nation  might  easily  procure  a  discreet 
man,  able  to  ride  on  horse-back,  fully  competent  to  dis- 
charge all  the  functions  of  executive  government,  for 
such  a  limited  yearly  stipend.  It  is  however  surmised, 
that  the  profound  observations  of  Mr.  Paine  on  the  sci- 
ence of  political  economy,  are  not  now  quite  in  such  good 
odour,  either  in  the  United  States,  or  in  France,  as  they 
were  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It 
is  necessary,  in  order  to  ensure  the  progressive  power, 
and  permanent  exaltation  of  a  country,  to  affix  large 
salaries  to  all  the  great  offices  of  State,  and  to  all  those 
public  situations  to  the  discharge  of  whose  functions,  it 
is  for  the  common  benefit,  that  ambition  should  invite 
high  talents. 

ft  is  mere  insanity  to  say,  the  people  can  get  the 
work  done  for  less  money,  and  therefore  they  ought  to 
give  less.  No  doubt  a  cobbler,  or  a  retail  dealer  in 
small  wares,  or  an  attorney  without  practice,  will  patri- 
otically Consent  to  take  upon  himself  the  burden  of  go- 
verning the  country,  in  any  one  of  the  great  executive 
departments  of  State,  for  a  small  stipend ;  because  the 
wages  of  office,  though  comparatively  low,  afford  a 
larger  income  than  either  of  these  enlightened  politi- 
cians can  derive  from  the  profits  of  his  individual  pro- 
fession. But  the  business  of  the  nation  will  not  be  well 
done.  Nay,  even  in  a  money  point  of  view,  the  nation 
will  be  a  loser,  by  employing  underlings  at  a  small  sa- 
lary, to  conduct  the  government  j  because  such  men 


J34  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

will  actually  destroy  more  public  property,  in  twelve 
months  of  mal-administration,  by  restraints  on  com- 
merce, by  bounties  on  manufactures,  by  crippling  the 
growth  of  productive  industry,  and  by  numberless  other 
political  blunders,  than  would  suffice  to  pay  the  most 
magnificent  stipends  to  executive  officers  for  a  hundred 
years.  And  if  we  add  to  this,  the  much  higher  consi- 
derations of  the  loss  of  national  honour,  and  the  degra- 
dation of  national  character — which  an  incapable  aomi- 
nistration  always  inflict  upon  their  country — we  cannot 
hesitate  to  pronounce,  that  the  system  of  under-paying 
public  officers,  has  a  direct  tendency  to  ensure  the  per- 
petual weakness  and  disgrace  of  a  community. 

All  bills  for  raising  revenue  in  the  United  States 
originate  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  the  Senate 

Eroposing,  or  concurring  with  amendments,  as  on  other 
ills.  Every  bill,  which  has  passed  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives and  the  Senate,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  is 
presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  if  he 
approve,  he  signs  it ;  if  not,  he  returns  it  with  his  ob- 
jections, to  the  house  originating  the  bill ;  that  house 
enters  the  objections  on  its  journals,  and  reconsiders  the 
bill ;  when,  if  two-thirds  agree  to  pass  it,  the  bill  is  sent, 
with  the  objections,  to  the  other  house,  which  also  re- 
considers it ;  and,  if  two-thirds  of  that  House  approve, 
it  becomes  a  law.  If  any  bill  be  not  returned  by  the 
President  within  ten  days,  (Sundays  excepted,)  after  it 
has  been  presented  to  him,  it  is  a  law ;  unless  Congress 
prevent  its  return  by  their  adjournment.  The  same 
rules  are  applicable  to  every  order,  resolution,  or  vote 
of  either  house. 

This  qualified  negative  upon  the  proceedings  of  the 
legislature  is  given  to  some  of  the  State  Governors,  by 
their  State  Constitutions,  as  well  as  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  by  the  federal  compact.  In  England 
the  executive  possesses  an  absolute  negative  upon  legis- 
lative acts ;  but  in  republican  governments  this  is  deem- 
ed too  great  a  power.  The  royal  veto  was  violently 
discussed  in  France  at  the  commencement  of  the  revo- 
lution, and  the  discussion  closed  by  cutting  off  the 


RESOURCES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES.  135 

King's  head.  M.  Necker,  the  Genevese  banker  and 
financier,  wrote  a  whole  book  upon  the  subject,  for  the 
express  purpose  of  enlightening  the  mind  of  Louis  the 
Sixteenth,  who,  however,  did  not  live  long  enough  to 
read  it  through.  Thus  fares  it  with  Kings,  when  their 
subjects  enter  into  abstract  discussions  respecting  execu- 
tive prerogatives  and  privileges.  The  questions,  whe- 
ther or  not,  in  these  United  States,  the  executive  shall 
have  the  power  to  obstruct  altogether,  or  only  to  arrest, 
and  for  a  time  suspend  the  will  of  a  majority  of  the  Re- 
presentatives of  the  people,  assembled  as  a  legislative 
body,  has  been  variously  decided  in  different  States. 
In  some,  the  executive  has  no  control ;  in  others,  only  a 
limited  or  qualified;  in  none  an  absolute  control.  The 
balance  of  opinions  is  in  favour  of  a  qualified  negative. 
In  1777  the  State  of  New-York  established  this  princi- 
ple in  her  Constitution ;  but  united  it  with  a  council  of 
revision,  composed  of  the  Governor,  the  Chancellor,  and 
the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  to  whom  all  bills  are 
submitted,  after  they  have  passed  both  houses  of  the 
legislature. 

In  1780  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts  vested  the 
veto  in  the  Governor  alone.  In  1786  the  Constitution  of 
Vermont  vested  in  the  Governor  and  Council  the  power 
not  only  to  propose  amendments  to  laws,  but  to  sus- 
pend them  to  the  next  session  of  the  legislature.  In 
1787  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  vested,  in  the 
President;  in  1789,  and  1795,  the  Constitution  of 
Georgia,  in  1790  that  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1792  those  of 
New-Hampshire  and  Kentucky,  in  1812  that  of  Louisi- 
ana, in  August,  1817,  that  of  Mississippi,  vested  in  their 
respective  Governors  the  power  to  negative  all  la'ws, 
unless  reconsidered,  and  passed  by  both  houses  of  the 
legislature.  In  Connecticut  the  Governor  and  Council, 
forming  the  upper  house,  possess  complete  legislative 
powers.  In  the  States  of  Delaware,  Tennessee,  South 
Carolina,  and  Ohio,  (which  last  Constitution  was  framed 
in  November,  1 802,)  the  Constitutions  withhold  even  a 
qualified  negative  from  the  executive.  By  the  Consti- 
tution of  South  Carolina,  in  1776,  the  Governor  had  a 


136 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


full  and  unqualified  veto  in  all  cases.  This  power  was 
annulled  by  the  Constitution  of  1778,  and  even  a  quali- 
fied negative  was  refused  admittance  into  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1790.  This  seems  to  be  a  momentous  error; 
for,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  impropriety  of 
entrusting  a  republican  executive  with  an  absolute  veto 
upon  all  legislative  proceedings,  yet  the  advantages  of  a 
qualified  negative  are  many  and  obvious. 

In  nearly  all  the  States  the  Senate  is  elected  by  the 
same  electors  who  vote  for  Representatives,  and  in  con- 
sequence, must  generally  be  influenced  by  the  same 
popular  prejudices,  and  propelled  by  the  same  sudden 
and  impetuous  emotions ;  whence  it  cannot  be  a  suf- 
ficient check  upon  the  passions  of  the  Lower  House. 
When  laws  are  passed  amidst  the  heat  and  smoke  of 
those  violent  impulses,  which  occasionally  agitate  every 
free  community,  it  is  essential  to  the  stability  and  cha- 
racter of  the  government,  that  some  external  check, 
dehots  the  Legislature,  should  exist,  in  order  to  arrest 
and  allay  the  temporary  ebullitions  of  legislative  insan- 
ity. And  in  what  hands  so  proper  as  those  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive can  such  a  power  be  deposited  ?  In  the  event 
of  the  Governor's  using  his  qualified  negative,  the  le- 
gislature may  still  pass  the  law,  provided,  upon  a  recon- 
sideration of  the  question,  two-thirds  of  both  houses 
concur  in  thinking  the  bill  salutary.  But  the  mere  cir- 
cumstance of  calling  upon  them  again  to  consider  the 
bill,  laden  with  the  deliberate  objections  of  the  Execu- 
tive, when  time  has  been  given  for  the  storm  of  popu- 
lar passion  to  subside,  will,  in  general,  be  sufficient  to 
prevent  the  passing  of  a  very  pernicious  law. 

In  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  in  those 
of  all  the  States,  except  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
there  seems  to  be  the  same  mode  of  trying  by  impeach- 
ment, the  accusation  proceeding  from  the  more  nu- 
merous branch  of  the  legislature,  and  being  heard  be- 
fore the  other  House.  There  are  some  variations  in  the 
different  Constitutions,  as  to  the  number  of  members 
required  in  both  houses  to  constitute  an  accusation  and 
conviction ;  in  some  simple  majorities  being  sufficient  j 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

in  others  two-thirds  being  required;  in  some  a  mere 
majority  of  the  House  may  vote  an  impeachmeat,  but 
two-thirds  of  the  Senate  must  convict.  Jt  might  be  ob- 
served that  the  practice  of  originating  money-oills  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  which  prevails  very  generally 
in  the  American  Constitutions,  is  "derived  from  a  similar 
practice  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  England,  and  was' 
transplanted  to  this  country,  and  engrafted  into  its  sys- 
tem of  colonial  policy.  Whatever  reason  there  might 
be  for  such  a  provision  in  England,  in  order  to  give  the 
Lower  House  some  counterpoise  of  strength  against  the 
predominating  influence  of  an  hereditary  monarchy  and 
aristocracy,  or  however  necessary  it  might  have  been 
under  the  colonial  governments  of  British  America,  as 
a  counterbalance  to  the  weight  of  the  Councils,  or 
Upper  Houses,  appointed  by  the  Crown,  there  does 
not  appear  to  be  the  same  urgent  necessity  for  adopting 
such  a  provision  in  the  present  American  Constitutions, 
since  in  all  of  them,  with  only  three  exceptions,  namely, 
those  of  the  United  States,  Maryland,  and  Kentucky, 
the  Senators  and  Representatives  both  emanate  from 
the  same  source,  that  of  popular  election  ;  and,  through- 
out the  Union,  the  lower  branch  of  the  Legislature  has 
a  tendency  to  absorb  within  its  own  vortex  all  the  sub- 
stantial powers  of  government,  both  State  and- Federal. 
Under  the  authority  of  the  Federal  Constitution 
Congress  has  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties, 
imposts,  and  excises,  to  pay  the  debts,  and  provide  for 
the  common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United 
States — all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  being  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States ;  to  borrow  money  on  the 
credit  of  the  United  States ;  to  regulate  commerce 
with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several  States,  and 
with  the  Indian  tribes ;  to  establish  a  uniform  rule  of 
naturalization,  and  uniform  laws  on  the  subject  of  bank- 
ruptcies throughout  the  United  States ;  to  coin  money, . 
and  regulate  its  value  and  that  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix 
the  standard  of  weights  and  measures;  to  provide  for 
the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and  cur- 
rent coin  of  the  United  States;  to  establish  post-offices 

18 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  post-roads ;  to  promote  the  progress  of  science  and 
useful  arts,  by  securing,  for  limited  times,  to  authors  and 
inventors,  the  exclusive  right  to  their  respective  writings 
and  discoveries;  to  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the 
Supreme  Court ;  to  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felo- 
nies committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  offences  against 
the  law  of  nations;  to  declare  war,  grant  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules  concerning  cap- 
tures on  land  and  water;  to  raise  and  support  armies, 
(no  appropriation  of  money,  however,  for  that  use,  being 
for  a  longer  term  than  two  years,)  to  provide  and 
maintain  a  navy ;  to  make  rules  for  the  government  and 
regulation  of  the  land  and  naval  forces  ;  to  provide  for 
calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions ;  to 
provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the  mi- 
litia, and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be 
employed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States — reserving 
to  the  States  respectively  the  appointment  of  the  of- 
ficers, and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia,  accord- 
ing to  the  discipline  prescribed  by  Congress. 

The  Federal  Constitution  likewise  empowers  Con- 
gress to  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases,  over 
such  district,  not  exceeding  ten  miles  square,  as  may  by 
cession  of  particular  States  and  the  acceptance  of  Con- 

§ress,  become  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United 
tates ;  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places 
purchased  by  the  consent  of  a  State  Legislature  for  the 
erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards,  and 
other  needful  buildings;  and  to  make  all  laws  neces- 
sary and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  fore- 
going powers,  vested  by  the  Constitution  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  or  any  of  its  departments  or 
offices.  The  permanent  seat  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States  was  established,  by  act  of  Congress,  upon 
the  river  Potomac,  including  the  town  of  Alexandria, 
in  Virginia,  and  Georgetown,  in  Maryland.  The  laws 
of  Virginia,  with  some  exceptions,  were  declared  in  force 
in  that  part  of  the  ten  miles  square  ceded  by  Virginia, 
and  those  of  Maryland  in  the  part  ceded  by  Maryland. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  339 

At  present  the  District  of  Columbia  is  neither  repre- 
sented in  Congress  nor  in  any  State  Legislature,  nor 
has  it  any  of  the  rights  or  privileges  of  an  American 
State,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  having 
decided  that  it  is  not  a  State  under  the  provisions  of  the 
Federal  Constitution. 

Notwithstanding  the  opinion  of  many  very  respect- 
able persons,  that  the  seat  -of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment at  the  City  of  Washington,  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, is  peculiarly  adapted  for  promoting  and  quick- 
ening the  progress  of  American  prosperity  and  strength, 
it  is  reasonable  to  infer,  that  the  location  of  this  remote 
metropolis  is,  of  itself,  too  well  calculated  to  produce  an 
inefficient  administration  of  government.  At  present, 
seventeen  years  after  its  first  location,  in  1800,  the 
Federal  City  is,  in  fact,  little  more  than  a  large  waste, 
with  a  few  straggling  houses  and  half-built  ruins,  thinly 
scattered  over  an  immense  surface.  A  stranger  is 
forcibly  struck  with  the  contrast  between  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  natural  scenery  of  the  place  and  the  forlorn 
appearance  of  the  few  buildings  and  broad  streets,  with 
their  long  rows  of  trees,  that  the  inhabitants  call  a 
City.  The  Potomac  spreads  out  into  a  vast  breadth 
immediately  below,  and  is  navigable  up  to  the  verge  of 
Washington  ;  the  back  country  is  very  extensive,  and 
the  river  affords  a  navigation  of  two  hundred  miles 
above  Georgetown.  So  early  as  the  year  1798,  the 
Members  of  Congress,  then  sitting  at  Philadelphia, 
were  repeatedly  consulted  respecting  the  assistance  to 
be  given  to  the  Federal  City,  but  they  were  nearly  all 
opposed  to  every  expedient  that  promised  to  prepare 
the  public  buildings  for  the  reception  of  the  general 
government.  Whence  the  proprietors  in  the  metropolis 
(full  half  of  which  they  had  given  to  the  government) 
suffered  considerably.  So  that  in  1802,  fifteen  hundred 
lots,  with  their  buildings,  which  had  cost  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  were  bought  in  for  less  than  twenty- 
six  thousand,  exhibiting  a  depreciation  of  nearly  seven- 
eighths  of  their  whole  value. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  the  tardy  progress,  and  the  present 
forlorn  appearance  of  the  federal  city,  there  are  not 
wanting  politicians,  who  still  continue  to  assert  that 
this  metropolis  is  admirably  calculated,  by  its  central 
situation,  lor  the  seat  of  American  government;  not 
only  now,  but  also  when  the  whole  continent  of  North 
America  shall  be  included  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
United  States,  and  members -of  Congress  shall  be  sent 
to  Washington,  from  the  coast  of  Labrador,  and  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien.  But  notwithstanding  these  subli- 
mated schemes,  and  Utopian  visions,  many  of  the  more 
sober  people  in  the  United  States  so  sensibly  feel  the 
inconvenience  resulting  from  the  seat  of  government 
being  fixed  at  Washington,  that  they  anxiously  wish  for 
its  removal  to  some  more  civilized  and  habitable  spot. 
For  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose,  scarcely  a  ses- 
sion of  Congress  has  passed  since  the  establishment  of 
Washington  as  the  metropolis  of  America,  without  some 
attempt  being  made,  by  motion,  or  petition,  to  remove 
the  seat  of  government  to  some  less  intolerable  place. 

The  chief  topics  of  complaint  are,  the  desolate  condi- 
tion of  the  city  itself;  its  remoteness  from  all  the  great 
commercial  ports  and  cities  of  the  Union,  and  the  conse- 
quent difficulty  and  delay  in  procuring  political  informa- 
tion, respecting  either  foreign  or  domestic  events ;  and 
the  additional  useless  expense,  in  all  the  branches  of  go- 
vernment, entailed  upon  the  nation,  by  their  residence  in 
Washington.  To  all  which  it  has  been  answered,  both 
in  and  out  of  Congress,  that  there  must  be  some  nation- 
al metropolis ;  that  the  Federal  Constitution  empowered 
Congress  to  fix  upon  a  permanent  seat  of  national  go- 
vernment, and  that  it  has  accordingly  fixed  upon 
Washington,  which  must  therefore,  "for  the  honour  of 
the  nation"  continue  to  be  the  American  metropolis, 
notwithstanding  any  temporary  inconvenience  or  mis- 
chief, thence  resulting  to  the  Union.  Leaving  the  Con- 
gress to  settle  the  point  of  honour  among  themselves, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  prove,  that  much  injury  is  derived  to 
the  United  States,  from  fixing  the  seat  of  government 
at  Washington.  All  that  can  be  alleged  in  favour  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  American  metropolis,  may  be  reduced  to  the  fol- 
io wing  heads;  namely,  1st.  its  central  situation,  facili- 
tating the  means  of  political  information  to  the  members 
of  government.  2dly.  Its  tendency  to  become  populous 
and  wealthy,  by  being  the  seat  of  government.  3dly. 
Its  commercial  and  manufacturing  capabilities;  and 
4thly.  Its  pleasant  situation,  holding  out  strong  induce- 
ments for  the  residence  of  gentlemen  of  independent 
fortunes. 

First.  As  to  its  central  situation,  it  happens  that  roads 
and  navigation  do  not  always  naturally,,  and  of  neces- 
sity, radiate  in  straight  lines  from  the  centre  to  the  cir- 
cumference, as  do  light  and  sound ;  nor  does  the  na- 
tional existence  of  the  United  States  depend  upon  be- 
ing geographically  metropolital.  For  if  so,  nearly  all 
the  great  empires  in  Europe  would  long  since  have 
been  overthrown ;  because,  with  the  exception  of  Ma- 
drid, no  great  European  metropolis  is  central ;  and  it  re- 
mains to  be  proved,  that  any  particular  dearth  of  the 
necessary  political  information  prevails  in  Paris,  Lon- 
don, Vienna,  Berlin,  or  Petersburgh,  merely  on  account 
of  not  being  situated  exactly  in  the  heart  of  their  re- 
spective territories ;  or  that  Spain  is  better  informed, 
and  more  enlightened,  than  the  rest  of  Europe,  because 
she  is  blessed  with  a  central  metropolis.  Besides, 
Washington  is  not  central,  since  the  addition  of  Louisi- 
ana to  the  Union ;  and  will  be  still  less  so,  when  Flo- 
rida and  Mexico  likewise,  shall  be  belted  within  the  cir- 
cle of  our  territorial  dominion.  Madrid,  to  be  sure,  is 
regulated  in  its  position,  by  this  supposed  geographical 
excellence.  Being  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  Spanish 
peninsula,  it  was  deemed  best  fitted  for  the  foundation 
of  a  capital.  But  it  possesses  no  other  local  advantages ; 
and  it  can  never  argue  the  most  profound  policy  to  se- 
lect merely  advantageous  mathematical  points,  without 
regarding  other  and  more  important  circumstances ; 
but  compelling  the  habits  and  conveniences  of  a  whole 
nation,  to  bend  to  these  unpurposed  notions  of  geogra- 
phical excellence.  The  Spaniards,  by  going  only 
thirty-five  miles  to  the  southward,  might  select  many 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  ILMTED  STATES. 

beautiful  and  advantageous  situations  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tagus,  either  on  the  plains,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Aranjuez,  or  on  the  hills  of  Toledo ;  whereas,  Ma- 
drid is  built  on  the  banks  of  the  Manzanares,  which 
is  only  one  of  the  tributary  streams  of  the  Tagus,  and, 
during  the  summer  months,  is  merely  a  little  rivulet, 
crawling  through  a  wide  bed  of  sand.  Whence,  by  its 
injudicious  position,  the  capital  of  Spain  is  deprived  of 
many  commercial  advantages. 

The  geographical  centre  of  a  country  is  not  necessa- 
rily the  focus  .of  its  power;  for  that  power  must  be 
derived  from  its  superior  wealth,  and  greater  popula- 
tion ;  neither  of  which  advantages  the  city  of  Wasning- 
ton  now  possesses,  or,  perhaps,  ever  can  possess,  since 
places  can  only  become  populous  and  wealthy  by  their 
progress  in  c'ommerce  and  manufactures ;  or  by  the  in- 
flux of  the  opulent  and  idle,  with  all  their  apparatus  of 
attendants,  equipages,  and  establishments ;  or  by  the 
attractions  of  a  seat  of  government — not  one  of  which 
circumstances  will  apply  in  favour  of  the  growth  of  our 
American  metropolis ;  for, 

Secondly.  The  federal  government  of  the  United 
States  never  can,  by  its  attractions  and  influence,  gather 
together  a  concourse  of  people  large  enough  to  consti- 
tute a  moderately  sized  city.  What  are  the  attractions 
of  the  American  government,  that  will,  a/owe,  ensure  a 
great  increase  of  wealth  and  population  to  the  city  of 
Washington  ?  Are  they  inferred  from  the  naked  walls 
of  the  unfinished  buildings,  scattered  here  and  there 
over  the  plain?  or  do  they  flow  from  the  expenditure 
of  the  ample  revenues,  and  the  establishment  of  the 
magnificent  households  of  the  members  of  Congress, 
with  all  their  menials,  retainers,  and  dependents,  that 
swell  the  train  of  legislative  pomp  and  official  great- 
ness ?  These  very  congressmen,  consisting  of  forty 
Senators  and  about  two  hundred  Representatives,  are, 
for  the  greater  part,  made  up  of  farmers,  tradesmen, 
mechanics,  feeless  physicians,  and  unpractising  law- 
yers, whose  wages .  of  legislation  amount  to  six  dol- 
lars a  day,  (averaging  less  than  one  thousand  dollars  a 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

year,)  during  the  session,  while  they  sit  brooding  and 
engendering  laws  for  the  direction  of  the  Union — these 
men,  without  equipages,  nay,  unattended  by  a  single 
servant,  annually  wander  up  to  Congress,  from  their 
respective  districts,  in  steamboats,  sloops,  and  stages; 
and,  during  their  session  in  the  Federal  City,  are  domi- 
ciled in  boarding-houses.  What  great  and  permanent 
influx  of  wealth  and  population  can  such  legislators  and 
statesmen  bring  into  the  seat  of  government  ?  Nor  do 
the  executive  officers  of  the  United  States,  as  already 
shown,  receive  salaries  sufficient  to  support  even  a 
decent  exterior  to  the  world. 

Thirdly.  Great  wonders,  however,  are  expected  from 
the  extraordinary  facilities  of  promoting  commerce  and 
manufactures,  which  the  city  of  Washington  possesses. 
But  our  manufactures  are  already  carried  on  in  districts 
much  more  favourably  situated  for  their  prosecution,  on 
account  of  the  superior  number,  wealth,  and  industry 
of  their  inhabitants,  than  Washington  is,  or  ever  can  be. 
And  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  naturally  finds 
its  way  to  the  great  outlets  and  inlets  of  American  na- 
vigation ;  it  never  will  flow,  in  any  large  streams,  to  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac,  lying  at  least  two  hundred  miles 
from  the  ocean,  merely  because  Congress  sits  and  legis- 
lates there ;  while  there  are  so  many  great  cities  in  the 
Union,  so  much  better  calculated  for  all  the  purposes 
of  trade  ;  while  the  great  seaports  of  Boston,  New- 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Charleston,  and  New- 
Orleans,  are  so  admirably  fitted  by  their  natural  advan- 
tages, as  well  as  their  acquired  weight  of  capital,  popu- 
lation, skill,  and  industry,  to  retain  and  increase  the 
ample  commercial  operations,  which  they  have  long  car- 
ried on  with  such  immense  benefit  to  the  whole  coun- 
try. Besides,  Alexandria,  lower  down  on  the  Potomac, 
and  nearer  the  sea,  intercepts  all  the  foreign  trade  car- 
ried on  in  that  navigation,  before  it  can  come  to  Wash- 
ington :  and  Georgetown  confers  upon  the  Federal  City 
a  similar  kindness,  by  engrossing  to  itself  all  the  inland 
trade  that  is  floated  down  the  Potomac  from,  the  interior 


144  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

settlements  and  plantations  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  j 
so  that  Washington  is  perpetually  barred,  by  the  very 
nature  of  its  position,  from  ever  becoming  a  great  com- 
mercial, or  manufacturing  city. 

It  only  remains,  Fourthly,  To  examine  how  far  the 
pleasantness  of  its  situation  might  induce  the  independ- 
ent gentlemen  of  the  United  States  to  fix  their  resi- 
dence in  Washington.  What  seductions  of  pleasure 
are  to  be  found  in  a  place,  which,  in  the  summer,  is  too 
hot-for  any  person  who  can  fly  from  it  to  endure ;  and 
which,  in  winter,  is  remarkable  for  the  dearness,  scanti- 
ness, and  badness  of  all  kinds  of  accommodations  and 
conveniences,  would  require  much  argument  and  more 
sophistry  to  show.  And  even  if  Washington  were 
so  pleasantly  situated  as  to  induce  a  desire  of  living  in 
it,  who  are  the  gentlemen  of  independent  fortune  that 
will  flock  thither?  Such  independent  gentlemen  are  a 
very  rare  order  of  beings  in  the  United  States,  owing  to 
the  infancy  of  the  nation,  the  form  and  substance  of  its 
political  institutions,  and  more  particularly  to  the  very 
general  custom  of  dividing  the  property,  both  real  and 
personal,  of  a  family  in  equal  portions  among  all  its 
members.  Indeed,  nearly  every  State  in  the  Union  has 
abolished  the  law  of  entails,  and  the  rights  of  primoge- 
niture, and  adopted  the  English  statute  of  distributions, 
for  the  disposition  of  real  as  well  as  personal  estate. 
Almost  all  the  men,  in  this  country,  are  employed  in 
prosecuting  some  profession,  trade,  or  calling,  as  the 
means  of  their  subsistence  ;  whence  the  number  of  opu- 
lent men,  not  engaged  in  actual  business,  is  very  small 
throughout  the  Union.  Nay,  even  if  they  were  more 
numerous,  while  the  separate  States  remain  distinct  and 
independent  sovereignties,  the  seat  of  the  general  go- 
vernment never  can  present  so  many  inducements  to  the 
unemployed  wealthy  to  crowd  thither,  as  will  always 
be  found  in  their  own  respective  States,  where  their  in- 
fluence must  be  greater  and  more  perceptible ;  and 
where  the  perpetual  fluctuations  of  the  executive  and 
legislative  bodies  continually  hold  out  objects  to  stimu- 
late their  ambition. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Hence,  Washington  cannot,  within  any  reasonable  pe- 
riod to  come,  grow  into  a  large  and  commodious  city ; 
seeing  that  it  holds  out  no  attractions  of  residence  to 
the  opulent  and  unemployed ;  possesses  no  great  capa- 
bilities of  commerce  or  manufactures ;  is  the  seat  of  a 
very  meagre  and  ill-paid  government;  and  is  not  well 
situated  for  obtaining,  speedily  and  correctly,  the  politi- 
cal information  necessary  to  guide  the  movements  of 
the  American  administration  with  sagacity  and  wisdom. 

The  real,  the  efficient  cause  of  fixing,  and  continuing 
the  seat  of  the  general  government  in  the  district  of 
Columbia,  is  to  be  found  in  the  determination  to  entail 
upon  the  State  of  Virginia  the  chief  sway  and  influ- 
ence over  all  the  rest  of  the  Union ;  and  to  check  the 
career  of  the  northern  and  middle  States,  whose  far  su- 
perior capacities,  both  physical  and  moral,  in  popula- 
tion, wealth,  industry,  and  intelligence,  would  eventually 
sink  Virginia  in  to  the  rank  of  a  second-rate  sovereignty,  if 
the  seat  of  the  national  government  were  on  the  northern 
line ;  and  the  northern  States  were  permitted  to  avail 
themselves  of  all  their  agricultural  and  commercial  ad- 
vantages. Whereas  now,  the  Virginians  having  the 
seat  of  government  within  their  own  territory,  make  it 
the  focus  of  their  own  political  intrigues ;  and  by  ma- 
naging the  people  without  doors,  in  the  different  States, 
they  return  nearly  what  members  to  Congress  they 
please ;  and  induce  them  to  legislate  in  accordance  with 
the  scheme  of  Virginian  policy ;  which  never  has  been 
favourable  to  large  and  liberal  views  of  commercial  en- 
terprise. 

Indeed,  it  is  almost  impossible  that  there  ever  can  be 
a  wise  and  efficient  administration  of  the  American  go- 
gernment,  while  its  seat  continues  at  Washington ;  be- 
cause no  practical  information,  upon  any  subjects  of  im- 
portance to  the  well-being  of  the  community,  can  be 
obtained  there.  If  advice  be  wanted  on  any  great  po- 
litical or  commercial  question,  no  advice  can  be  had ; 
for  no  statesmen  or  merchants  reside  at  Washington ; 
and  neither  public  nor  private  libraries  are  to  be  found 
there :  whatever  wisdom  is  required,  must  be  derived 

19 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITET3  STATES'. 

from  the  members  of  Congress  themselves.  Add  to 
this,  that  there  is  no  weight  of  population,  talents,  pro- 
perty, or  character,  to  regulate  and  influence  the  dis- 
cussions of  Congress,  so  as  to  restrain  that  venerable 
body  from  too  often  enacting  absurd  and  oppressive 
laws.  If  the  seat  of  government  were  fixed  in  any  one 
of  the  large  and  populous  cities,  which  adorn  and 
strengthen  the  more  civilized  parts  of  the  Union,  the 
members  of  Congress  would  not  dare  to  pass  such  acts, 
as  they  have  too  frequently  passed,  while  sitting  as  le- 
gislators in  the  district  of  Columbia.  For  they  would 
be  assailed  on  all  sides,  out  of  doors,  by  the  talents,  in- 
formation, character,  and  influence,  of  the  more  intelli- 
gent part  of  the  community ;  and  by  the  popular  indig- 
nation of  their  more  unthinking  brethren  of  the  multi- 
tude. 

But  now,  the  members  of  Congress  go  up  from  all 
quarters  of  the  Union  to  Washington ;  and  generally, 
carrying  with  them  only  moderate  natural  capacities, 
and  no  very  profound  acquaintance  with  the  great  po  i- 
tical  relations  subsisting  between  the  United  States, 
and  the  other  sovereignties  of  the  world ;  they  assem- 
ble together  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  hurry  through  into  statutes  all  sorts  of  bills ; 
the  meaning  and  import  of  which  they  do  not  always 
know;  and  concerning  the  probable  results  of  which, 
they  cannot  sometimes  even  guess;  but  they  obey  the 
directions  of  their  civil  commanders,  the  leaders  of  the 
Virginian  dynasty.  And  having  performed  these  feats 
of  legislation,  the  congressmen  retire  to  their  respect- 
ive domiciles ;  and  congratulate  each  other  upon  their 
deliberative  sagacity  and  wisdom,  without  any  dread  of 
encountering  the  ridicule  or  reproach  of  an  intelligent 
human  being,  amidst  the  gross  population,  so  thinly  scat- 
tered over  the  naked  metropolis  of  America.  The  em- 
bargo of  1807,  1808,  and  1809,  that  suicidal  act,  which 
at  one  death-stroke  cut  asunder  all  the  sinews  of  na- 
tional industry,  wealth,  and  reputation,  was  absolutely 
carried  through  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  the 
little  compass  of  four  hours;  the  three  readings  of  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

bill  being  forced  onward,  one  after  another,  with  all  the 
rapidity  of  guilt ;  and  when  the  two  or  three  really  wise 
and  practical  statesmen,  who  at  that  period  happened 
to  be  in  the  Senate,  and  who  foresaw  the  ruinous  conse- 
quences of  that  miserable  measure,  requested  the  go- 
vernment party  to  pause,  until  they  could  obtain  some 
correct  information  as  to  its  probable  effects  upon  the 
mercantile  and  agricultural  interests  of  the  country, 
they  were  answered,  that  the  American  Senate  wanted 
no  political  information ;  that  its  collective  wisdom  was 
fully  adequate  to  provide  laws  for  promoting  the  welfare 
of  the  Union ;  and  accordingly,  the  American  Senate,  in 
its  collective  wisdom,  did,  in  the  space  of  four  hours, 
take  up,  consider,  and  pass  into  a  law,  an  act  laying  a 
perpetual  embargo  on  all  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States. 

Above  all,  the  seat  of  government  being  fixed  at 
Washington,  gives  full  play  and  opportunity  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  Virginian  influence  to  acquire  complete  ascen- 
dency over  the  other  portions  of  the  Union.  Virginia 
is  the  largest  of  all^  the  United  States :  its  laws,  forbid- 
ding real  property  to  be  attached  for  debt;  the  custom 
of  leaving  the  landed  estates  of  the  family  to  the  eldest 
son,  in  hereditary  succession;  the  power  of  voting,  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  negro  slaves  upon  each 
plantation,  (the  slaves  amounting  to  about  half  the  po- 
pulation of  the  State ;)  the  proprietary  qualification  of  a 
considerable  freehold  required  in  every  white  voter;  to-* 
gether  with  some  other  circumstances,  in  their  State 
constitution,  laws,  and  customs,  all  confer  upon  the 
Virginians  very  great  political  advantages,  and  enable 
them  to  act  in  a  compact  body,  for  the  purpose  of  per- 
petuating their  dominion  over  the  middle  and  northern 
States,  throughout  which?  they  encourage  the  preva- 
lence of  democracy  by  every  means  in  their  power, 
while  they  do  not  suffer  it  even  to  exist  within  the  preT 
cincts  of  their  own  State.  For  by  excluding  all  free- 
men, who  have  no  freehold,  from  voting ;  by  themselves 
possessing  votes,  according  to  the  number  of  their 


J48  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

slaves ;  by  transmitting  their  landed  property  in  heredi- 
tary succession;  and  by  freeing  themselves  from  the 
embarrassments  attending  the  subjection  of  their  lands 
to  attachment  for  debt,  the  planters  of  Virginia  have 
erected  themselves  into  a  feudal  aristocracy  of  untitled 
and  unblazoned  peers,  and  manage  their  affairs  so 
adroitly  as  to  give  laws  to  the  rest  of  the  Union. 

By  the  esprit  du  corps,  which  actuates  every  Vir- 
ginian landholder,  and  by  the  constitutional  policy 
which  blends  together  the  executive  and  legislative,  and 
in  some  measure  the  judicial  departments  and  functions 
of  Virginia,  that  State  is  enabled  to  spread  the  web  of 
influence  over  all  the  elections,  as  well  State  as  Fe- 
deral, in  the  Union,  so  as  to  secure  the  appointment  of 
proper  personages,  to  be  guided  and  directed  by  the 
master-hand  of  its  leading  politicians ;  whence  the 
Congressmen  generally,  and  a  majority  of  the  State 
legislatures,  have  long  been  induced  to  vote  and  pass 
laws  in  conformity  with  the  political  views  of  their  Vir- 
ginian lords.  Well  might  the  Virginian  landholders, 
therefore,  so  strenuously  insist  upon  continuing  the 
seat  of  government  at  Washington,  lest  their  influence 
over  Congress  should  be  counteracted  and  defeated  by 
the  supenor  intelligence,  activity,  and  virtue,  always  to 
be  found  in  large  and  populous  cities.  Nay,  it  would  not 
be  so  easy,  after  a  while,  to  induce  very  unqualified 
men  to  sit  in  Congress,  if  the  seat  of  government  were 
fixed  in  any  civilized  place,  and  the  Members  were 
constantly  liable  to  be  assailed  for  their  incapacity  by  the 
superior  sense  and  spirit  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  metro- 
polis ;  and  consequently  a  wiser  order  of  beings  would 
be  selected  to  take  upon  themselves  the  very  important 
charge  of  legislating  for  millions  of  their  fellow-men. 

The  next  clause  of  the  Constitution  is  particularly 
important,  as  relating  to  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade ;  it  runs  thus, 

The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  the 
States,  existing  at  the  time  of  framing  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, should  think  proper  to  admit,  is  not  to  be  pro- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

hibited  by  Congress  prior  to  the  year  1808;  but  a  tax, 
not  exceeding  ten  dollars  a  head,  may  be  imposed  on 
such  importation. 

In  the  Northern  and  Middle  States  the  slaves  are 
few;  Massachusetts  has,  by  statute,  abolished  slavery 
altogether  within  her  jurisdiction;  New-York,  New- 
Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  have  passed  acts  for  its  gra- 
dual abolition  within  their  territories;  Ohio  has  pro- 
hibited, by  her  Constitution,  its  existence  within  her 
precincts  ;  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and 
Mississippi,  keep  up  a  large  body  of  slaves  within  their 
respective  sovereignties,  amounting  to  about  one-third 
of  their  whole  population,  and  mating  about  one-sixth 
of  the  population  of  all  the  United  States  ;  namely,  Ma- 
ryland, 150,000;  Virginia,  460,000;  North  Carolina, 
254,000;  South  Carolina,  246,000;  Georgia,  173,000; 
Kentucky,  238,000;  Tennessee,  102,000;  Louisiana, 
57,000;  Mississippi,  31,000.  Making  a  total  of 
1,711,000. 

If  a  Heathen  poet  could  exclaim 


ttvocttvvrcti  evgwrot  Zev$ 
tvr  av  (tit  Kotra,  SovXiev 


what  ought  a  Christian  philosopher  to  think  ?  During 
the  session  of  Congress,  in  the  winter  of  1816-7,  a  So- 
ciety was  established  at  Washington,  for  the  purpose  of 
colonizing  the  free  people  of  colour.  The  citizens  of 
the  Southern  States  have  long  experienced  the  evils  re- 
sulting from  the  slave  system.  They  are  kept  in  con- 
tinual alarm  and  fear  of  an  insurrection  of  the  slaves 
themselves  ;  and  the  free  blacks  are  so  numerous  and 
profligate,  as  to  be  a  curse  and  pestilence  to  all  our 
large  cities.  Nay,  even  in  the  Northern  and  Middle 
States,  where  they  are  better  educated  than  in  the 
South,  their  habits  are  so  vitious,  as  to  render  them  a 
burden  on  the  poor-rates,  and  continual  candidates  for 
the  State-Prison.  It  is  said,  that  some  of  the  Southern 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

planters  begin  to  be  convinced  that  their  lands  may  be 
tilled  to  greater  advantage  by  free  white  labourers  than 
by  negro  slaves.  If  this  conviction  should  spread,  it 
may  eventually  lead  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  all  over 
the  United  States.  The  intention,  at  present,  on  the 
part  of  the  Colonization  Company,  is  to  settle  as  many 
free  blacks  as  they  can  induce  to  go,  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  Sherborough,  some  distance  south  of  Sierra 
Leone,  under  the  protection  of  England,  and  supply 
them  with  suitable  agricultural  implements,  school- 
masters, and  religious  teachers.  If  this  benevolent 
scheme  should  succeed,  it  may  become  a  powerful 
means  of  christianizing  and  civilizing  the  immense  Con- 
tinent of  Africa,  containing  a  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  Mahomedans  and  Pagans,  steeped  in  ignorance,  su- 
perstition, brutality,  vice,  and  crime.  Sir  James  Lucas 
Yeo's  late  letter  to  the  British  Admiralty  throws  much 
light  on  the  slave  trade  as  it  now  exists,  and  on  the 
state  of  Africa. 

The  nations  of  antiquity  most  celebrated  for  counte- 
nancing the  system  of  domestic  slavery  were  the  Jews, 
Greeks,  Romans,  and  ancient  Germans ;  but  it  has  been 
of  almost  universal  prevalence.  Its  beginning  may  be 
dated  from  the  remotest  periods  in  which  there  are  any 
traces  of  the  history  of  mankind.  It  commenced  in  the 
barbarous  stages  of  human  society ;  and  was  retained 
even  among  nations  far  advanced  in  civilization.  By  the 
ancient  Germans  it  was  continued  in  the  countries  which 
they  overran,  and  was  thus  transmitted  to  the  various 
kingdoms  and  states  that  arose  in  Europe,  out  of  the 
ruins  of  Western  Rome.  In  process  of  time,  however, 
this  species  of  servitude  gradually  fell  into  decay  in  most 
parts  of  Europe ;  and,  amongst  the  various  causes  which 
contributed  to  this  essential  alteration  in  the  whole  sys- 
tem of  European  society,  none,  probably,  were  more 
effectual  than  the  uniform  experience  of  the  disadvan- 
tages of  slavery  itself;  the  difficulty  of  continuing  it, 
amidst  the  growing  civilization  of  commercial  enterprise 
9nd  industry?  and  a  progressive  persuasion  that  the 


RESOURCES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES.  j  §  i 

pression  and  cruelty,  necessarily  incident  to  its  existence, 
were  incompatible  with  the  religious  doctrines  and  the 
pure  morality  of  the  Christian  dispensation. 

Such  was  the  expiring  state  of  domestic  slavery  in 
Europe,  at  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  the  discovery  of  America,  and  of  the  western  and 
eastern  coasts  of  Africa,  gave  occasion  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  new  species  of  slavery,  which  took  its  rise  from 
the  Portuguese,  who,  in  order  to  supply  the  Spaniards 
with  persons  able  to  sustain  the  fatigue  of  cultivating 
their  new  possessions  in  America,  particularly  in  the 
West-India  Islands,  opened  a  trade  between  Africa  and 
America,  for  the  sale  of  negro  slaves.  This  execrable 
commerce  in  the  blood  and  sinews — the  bones  and  mar- 
row of  the  human  species — was  begun  in  the  year  1 508, 
when  the  first  importation  of  negro  slaves  was  made  into 
Hispaniola,  (now  St.  Domingo,)  from  the  Portuguese 
settlements  on  the  western  coasts  of  Africa.  The  em- 
ployment of  slaves  in  colonial  labour  was  not  long  con- 
fined to  the  Spaniards,  but  was  soon  adopted  by  the 
other  European  nations,  as  they  acquired  possessions  inr 
America.  In  consequence  of  this  general  practice 
negroes  became  a  very  considerable  article  of  merchan- 
dise in  the  commerce  between  Africa  and  America;  and 
domestic  slavery  struck  so  deep  a  root,  that  the  nine- 
teenth century  had  actually  commenced  before  the  pow- 
ers of  Christendom  interfered  to  restrain  the  progress? 
of  the  slave  trade. 

In  the  year  1803  the  general  government  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  passed  an  act  of  Congress,  prohibiting  the 
importation  of  negro  slaves  into  any  part  of  the  Union, 
after  the  commencement  of  the  year  1 808 ;  in  the  year 
1806  the  British  parliament  abolished  the  importation  of 
negro  slaves  into  any  part  of  the  territories,  home  or 
colonial,  of  the  empire.  In  1815  Napoleon,  on  his  re- 
turn from  Elba,  abolished  the  slave-trade  in  France ; 
which  abolition  was  confirmed  by  a  subsequent  decree 
of  the  present  King.  The  Spaniards  and  Portuguese 
still  continue  this  detestable  traffic  in  human  flesh ;  and 
the  domestic  slavery  of  the  negroes  is  maintained  in 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

nearly  all  the  American  colonies  of  Europe,  whether 
continental  or  insular,  and  in  these  United  States,  parti- 
cularly those  of  the  south  and  west. 

Slavery  is  an  absolute  evil,  unqualified  by  any  alloy  of 
good ;  it  implies  an  obligation  of  perpetual  service,  which 
nothing  but  the  consent  of  the  master  can  dissolve.  It 
also  generally  gives  the  master  an  arbitrary  power  of 
administering  every  sort  of  bodily  correction,  however 
severe  and  inhuman,  not  immediately  affecting  the  life 
or  limb  of  the  slave.  Nay,  sometimes  even  these  are 
left  exposed  to  the  unrestrained  will  of  a  capricious 
master ;  or  they  are  protected  by  paltry  fines,  and  other 
slight  punishments,  too  inconsiderable  to  prevent  ex- 
cessive cruelty  ;  as  was  exemplified  in  that  South  Caro- 
lina master,  who,  in  the  year  1811,  after  lashing  his 
negro  slave  most  unmercifully,  compelled  another  of  his 
negroes  (the  intimate  companion  and  friend  of  the  per- 
son punished,)  to  sever  his  head  from  his  body  with  an 
axe,  while  he  was  held  down  on  a  block  by  his  fellow- 
sJaves.  For  this  attrocious  and  deliberate  murder  the 
master  was  punished  by  the  imposition  of  a  small  fine, 
prescribed  by  statute.  If  he  had  stolen  a  horse  in  South 
Carolina,  and  had  been  found  guilty  of  the  offence,  the 
laws  of  that  State  would  have  hanged  him;  but  the  de- 
liberate murder  of  his  fellow-creature  was  commuted 
fora  few  dollars.  God  made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth ;  but  the  Bible  is  not  often  the  manual  of  a 
slave-holder. 

Slavery  creates  a  legal  incapacity  of  acquiring  pro- 
perty, except  for  the  master's  benefit.  It  allows  the 
master  to  transfer  over,  and  alienate  the  person  of  the 
slave,  in  the  same  manner  as  he  alienates  and  transfers 
any  other  species  of  goods  and  chattels.  Servitude  de- 
scends from  parent  to  child,  with  all  its  severe  append- 
ages. This  catalogue  of  misery  is  nothing  more  than  a 
faithful  description  of  every  kind  of  personal  slavery, 
whether  existing  under  the  municipal  laws  of  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome,  or  the  institution  ofvillenage  in  feudal 
Europe,  during  the  dark  ages,  or  the  present  condition 
of  negro  bondmen ;  excepting  that  the  remnant  ofvilleyn 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UMTED  STATES. 


153 

slavery,  which  is  altogether  abolished  in  England  and 
France,  but  still  lingers,  under  various  denominations,  in 
some  of  the  countries  of  continental  Europe,  particularly 
in  Italy,  Austria,  and  Russia,  is  considerably  qualified  in 
favour  of  the  slave,  by  the  humane  provisions,  and  grow- 
ing civilization  of  modern  times.  The  bare  view  of  the 
condition  of  slavery  is  sufficient  to  point  out  its  perni- 
cious consequences  to  those  communities  where  it  is 
suffered  to  exist.  It  corrupts  the  morals  of  the  master, 
by  freeing  hirn  from  those  legal  restraints,  with  respect 
to  his  slave,  so  necessary  for  the  control  of  the  human 
passions,  so  beneficial  in  promoting  the  practice,  and 
confirming  the  habit  of  virtue.  It  is  also  dangerous  to 
the  master;  because  his  systematic  oppression  excites 
all  the  worst  emotions  of  implacable  resentment  and 
hatred  in  the  bosom  of  the  slave ;  the  extreme  misery 
of  whose  condition  continually  prompts  him  to  hazard 
every  peril  for  the  gratification  of  revenge ;  and  his  situ- 
ation furnishes  him  with  frequent  opportunities  of  slaking 
his  thirst  of  vengeance  in  the  blood  of  his  oppressor. 
Accordingly,  the  planters  of  our  southern  States,  and  of 
the  West-Indies  generally,  are  kept  in  perpetual  alarm 
and  horror,  lest  an  insurrection  of  their  slaves  should 
consign  them  to  the  doom  which  the  French  masters 
experienced  in  the  massacres  of  St.  Domingo. 

To  the  slave  himself,  personal  bondage  communicates 
all  the  afflictions  of  life,  without  affording  him  the  re- 
compense of  a  single  delight,  physical,  intellectual,  or 
moral.  It  stifles  all  the  growth  of  native  excellence, 
by  denying  the  ordinary  means  and  motives  of  human 
improvement.  It  is  likewise  full  of  peril  to  the  com- 
monwealth, by  the  radical,  the  heart  corruption  of  those 
citizens  on  whose  exertions  of  virtuous  patriotism 
its  prosperity  so  essentially  depends ;  and  by  admit- 
ting within  its  bosom  a  vast  multitude  of  persons,  who, 
being  excluded  from  the  common  benefits  of  its  po- 
litical Constitution,  are  necessarily  interested  in  de- 
vising the  means  of  its  destruction.  In  whatever  light 
we  view  it,  domestic  slavery  is  a  most  pernicious  insti- 
tution— more  immediately  to  the  victim,  who  writhes  in 

20 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

convulsive  agony  under  its  scorpion  lash;  indirectly  to 
the  master,  who  riots  in  uncontrolled  dominion ;  and 
eventually  to  the  State  itself,  which  suffers  such  a  lep- 
rous instilment  to  be  poured  into  all  the  veins  and  arte- 
ries of  the  body  politic. 

It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  the  fatal  ten- 
dencies of  personal  bondage  to  corrupt  and  destroy 
individuals,  domestic  society,  and  the  community  at 
large,  are  slackened  in  our  southern  States,  by  some 
favourable  circumstances,  which  do  not  exist  in  the 
West-Indian  colonies  of  the  European  powers.  The 
most  important  of  these  are  the  much  less  disproportion 
between  the  number  of  slaves  and  free  men,  there  being 
in  many  of  the  West-India  islands  ten  blacks  to  one 
white;  whereas,  in  none  of  our  States  does  the  black 
more  than  equal  the  white  population; — the  superior 
order  of  the  permanent  free  inhabitants,  more  especially 
of  the  great  planters,  whose  native  talents  are  deve- 
loped by  liberal  education,  and  whose  manners  are 
polished  by  all  the  refinements  of  well-bred  society ; 
whereas,  the  greater  portion  of  West-Indian  planters 
are  needy  and  desperate  adventurers  from  Europe,  who 
pass  their  temporary  residence  in  the  colonies  in  "igno- 
rance, luxurious  rioting,  brutal  sensuality,  gaming,  cru- 
elty, and  every  kind  of  vitious  indulgence,  until  they 
either  perish  there,  or  amass  enough  treasure  from  the 
tears  and  blood  of  their  negroes  to  return  home,  and 
corrupt  the  morals  of  the  neighbourhood  where  they 
settle ; — the  very  superior  condition  and  accomplish- 
ments of  the  female  portion  of  our  southern  community, 
compared  with  that  of  the  West-Indies,  and  the  vicinity 
of  sister  States,  bound  up  in  the  same  girdle  of  political 
confederacy,  but  steadily  and  systematically  discour- 
aging the  existence  of  domestic  slavery  within  the  limits 
01  their  own  territorial  jurisdiction. 

Nevertheless,  on  the  score  of  humanity  to  negroes, 
our  slave-holding  States  have  nothing  to  boast;  at  least 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  provision  of  the  municipal  law. 
Our  southern  planters  exercise  the  lash  at  their  own 
discretion ;  they  pay  a  small  money-fine  for  the  murder 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  their  slaves,  and  they  occasionally  subject  them  to 
very  severe  bodily  torture.  The  United  States  afford 
no  instance  of  a  master  being  capitally  punished  for 
killing  his  slave ;  yet,  in  the  British  West-Indies,  some 
few  years  since,  Mr.  Hodge,  a  planter  of  large  fortune, 
a  magistrate  and  a  member  of  the  executive  council, 
was  publicly  hanged,  at  noon-day,  after  a  jury  of  his 
countrymen  had  fonnd  him  guilty  of  excessive  cruelty 
to  the  negroes  on  his  plantation. 

In  South  Carolina  the  negro  slaves  are,  by  law,  burned 
alive  for  the  crimes  of  arson,  burglary,  and  murder.  So 
lately  as  the  year  1808,  two  negroes  were  actually 
burned  alive,  over  a  slow  tire,  in  the  midst  of  the  market- 
place, in  the  city  of  Charleston.  What  must  be  the 
code  of  municipal  law;  what  must  be  the  state  of  pub- 
lic feeling,  in  respect  to  the  wretched  African  race,  that 
could  suffer  two  human  beings  to  be  gradually  consum- 
ed by  fire,  as  a  public  spectacle,  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, in  the  midst  of  a  city  containing  nearly  twenty 
thousand  nominal  Christians;  and  the  best  of  all  possi- 
ble republicans,  who  profess  to 'look  with  scorn  upon 
the  tyrants,  and  with  compassion  upon  the  slaves  of 
JEurope ! 

By  the  provisions  of  the  Federal  Constitution  the  privi- 
lege of  the  writ  of habeas  corpus  cannot  be  suspended,  un- 
less required  by  the  public  safety,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or 
invasion.  No  bill  of  attainder,  or  ex  post  facto  law  can 
be  passed.  No  capitation,  or  other  direct  tax  can  be 
laid,  unless  in  proportion  to  the  census  or  enumeration 
directed  to  be  taken  by  a  preceding  provision  of  the 
Constitution.  No  tax  or  duties  can  be  laid  on  articles 
exported  from  any  State.  No  preference  can  be  given 
by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or  revenue,  to  the  ports 
of  one  State  over  those  of  another ;  nor  can  vessels, 
bound  to  or  from  one  State,  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear, 
or  pay  duties  in  another.  No  money  can  be  drawn 
from  the  Treasury,  but  in  consequence  of  appropriations 
made  by  law ;  and  a  regular  statement  and  account  of 
the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money  must 
be  published,  from  time  to  time.  INo  title  of  nobility 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

can  be  granted  by  the  United  States,  and  no  person, 
holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them,  can, 
without  consent  of  Congress,  accept  any  present,  emo- 
lument, office,  or  title,  from  any  King,  Prince,  or  foreign 
State.  No  State  can  enter  into  treaty,  alliance,  or  con- 
federation, grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  com 
money,  emit  bills  of  credit,  make  any  thing  but  gold  and 
silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts;  pass  any  bill 
of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obli- 
gation of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility.  No 
State  can,  without  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  imposts, 
or  duties  on  imports  or  exports ;  except  what  may  be 
absolutely  necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  laws  ; 
and  the  net  produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts,  laid  by 
any  State  on  imports  or  exports,  must  be  for  the  use 
of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States ;  and  all  such 
laws  be  subject  to  the  revision  and  control  of  Congress. 
No  State  can,  without  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any 
duty  on  tonnage,  keep  troops,  or  ships  of  war  in  time  of 
peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  ano- 
ther State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war, 
unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  danger  as 
will  not  admit  of  delay. 

The  reader  may  receive  much  valuable  information 
upon  American  affairs,  relating  to  the  government,  laws, 
institutions,  and  policy  of  the  United  States,  by  a  peru- 
sal of  the  following  works,  to  the  first  of  which,  in  parti- 
cular, the  preceding  pages  have  been  greatly  indebted ; 
namely,  Mr.  Smith's  "  Comparative  View  of  the  Con- 
stitutions of  the  several  States  with  each  other,  and 
with  that  of  the  United  States,  exhibiting,  in  tables,  the 
prominent  features  of  each  Constitution,  and  classing 
together  their  most  important  provisions,  under  the 
several  heads  of  administration,  with  notes  and  observa- 
tions." The  Federalist  was  written  conjointly  by 
General  Hamilton,  Mr.  Jay,  and  Mr.  Madison.  Mr. 
Jay  wrote  only  a  few  of  the  earlier  papers ;  Mr.  Madi- 
son wrote  some  of  the  historical  essays ;  and  the  chief 
portion  of  the  work  was  executed  by  General  Hamilton. 
In  depth  and  extent  of  political  wisdom-,  in  the  philoso- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

phy  of  jurisprudence,  in  comprehension  and  elevation  of 
national  views,  in  high  and  blameless  honour,  in  pro- 
found and  luminous  ratiocination,  in  nervous  and  manly 
eloquence,  in  lofty  and  incorruptible  patriotism,  the 
American  Federalist  has  no  superior,  and  very  few 
equals,  in  all  the  volumes  of  political  economy,  contain- 
ing the  lucubrations  of  the  greatest  sages  and  statesmen 
of  modern  Europe,  whether  of  England,  France,  Ger- 
many, Italy,  Spain,  or  Holland. 

Pacificus  was  written  to  defend  and  encourage  the 
impartial,  persevering  neutrality  of  the  United  States, 
during  the  whole  conflict  between  revolutionary  France 
and  England ;  a  conflict  that  grew  out  of  the  Jacobini- 
cal insolence,  intolerance,  and  aggression  of  the  French 
revolutionary  government ;  and  for  a  season,  swept  along 
all  the  continent  of  Europe  down  its  tide  of  ruin  and 
degradation.  No  higher  commendation  can  be  given  of 
this  work,  than  to  say  that  it  is  altogether  the  compo- 
sition of  General  Hamilton.  Camillus  was  written  to 
defend  and  explain  Mr.  Jay's  Treaty  with  England, 
concluded  in  November,  1794;  that  treaty,  to  which  the 
United  States  were  indebted  for  a  continual  stream  of 
prosperity  and  wealth,  unexampled  in  the  history  of  na- 
tions. The  commercial  part  was  written  by  Mr.  Rufus 
King,  formerly  American  minister  near  the  Court  of 
St.  James's ;  and  the  political  portion  by  General  Ha- 
milton. The  whole  performance  displays  the  highest 
evidence  of  the  sound  judgment,  extensive  information, 
and  powerful  and  pointed  reasoning  of  the  two  distin- 
guished statesmen  who  composed  it.  The  American 
Remembrancer  contains  a  large  mass  of  essays,  resolu- 
tions, and  speeches  for  and  against  Mr.  Jay's  Treaty. 
The  chief  opponent  of  Camillus  was  the  late  Chancel- 
lor of  the  State  of  New-York,  Mr.  Livingston.  This 
collection  exhibits  much  talent  and  violence,  both  per- 
sonal and  legislative;  and  presents  an  ample  and  in- 
structive picture  of  the  public  mind,  during  one  of  the 
most  trying  and  turbulent  periods  in  the  national  career 
of  the  United  States. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  American  Museum  is  in  thirteen  octavo  volumes, 
and  amidst  much  idle  trash,  and  multifarious  nonsense, 
contains  a  large  portion  of  valuable  information,  relating 
to  the  agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures,  politics, 
morals,  manners,  national  character,  natural  and  civil 
history,  biography,  law,  and  state  documents  of  Ame- 
rica, from  the  beginning  of  the  year  1787,  to  the  end  of 
the  year  1792,  a  most  interesting  period,  during  which 
the  federal  Constitution  was  framed,  and  carried  into 
practical  effect.  The  collection  of  American  State  pa- 
pers, of  which  ten  octavo  volumes  have  been  recently 
published  at  Boston,  is  a  most  valuable  addition  to  our 
stock  of  information,  respecting  the  government  and 
policy  of  the  United  States. 

If  the  papers  of  the  late  General  Hamilton  were  pub- 
lished, either  in  a  connected  narrative  form;  or  a  judi- 
cious selection  of  them  were  made,  and  given  to  the 
public,  an  immeasurable  volume  of  light  would  be  shed 
upon  the  internal  structure,  the  home  administration, 
and  the  foreign  relations  of  the  American  government; 
upon  the  laws  and  polity,  the  commerce  and  manufac- 
tures of  the  United  States ;  upon  all  that  tends,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  subserve  the  best  interests,  and  promote 
the  national  strength,  prosperity,  and  honour  of  our 
federative  republic. 

In  the  ancient  republics  of  Greece  and  Rome,  one 
man  used  to  excel  in  many  various  departments  of  in- 
tellectual greatness;  the  same  man  was  an  illustrious 
warrior,  statesman,  lawyer,  and  orator.  But  the  more 
minute  division  of  labour  in  modern  times,  is  satisfied 
with  excellence  in  a  single  vocation,  and  we  are  ready 
to  pronounce  a  man  great,  if  he  be  a  skilful  general,  or 
a  profound  lawyer,  or  a  wise  statesman,  or  an  able  wri- 
ter, or  an  eloquent  speaker.  General  Hamilton,  how- 
ever, united  all  these  high  characters  in  himself;  for  he 
was  unquestionably  the  greatest  lawyer,  statesman, 
financier,  orator,  and  writer  of  his  own  country,  and 
perhaps  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Hamilton  was 
one  of  the  ngvn*0Ao<,  but  with  this  distinction  in  h{s  fa- 
vour, that  he  won  the  prize  in  every  contest. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UI^TED  STATES. 

On  the  subject  of  representation  generally,  the  ex- 
clusion of  cabinet  ministers  from  the  legislature,  the  al- 
lowing scanty  stipends  to  public  servants,  and  some 
other  topics  intimately  connected  with  the  wise  and  effi- 
cient administration  of  government,  much  very  valu- 
able instruction  might  be  obtained  by  a  careful  perusal 
of  the  papers  on  Parliamentary  reform,  scattered 
throughout  the  Edinburgh  Review;  and  more  espe- 
cially, the  article  on  Cobbett's  Register,  in  the  tenth 
volume  ;  a  political  discussion,  which  for  depth,  clear- 
ness, comprehension,  and  liberality,  has  probably  never 
been  surpassed. 

The  Federal  Constitution  vests  the  executive  power 
in  a  President  of  the  United  States,  who  holds  his  office 
during  the  term  of  four  years,  and,  together  with  the 
Vice  President,  chosen  for  the  same  period,  was  original- 
ly elected  thus  :  Each  State  appoints,  at  the  discretion 
of  its  legislature,  as  many  Electors  as  itself  has  Senators 
and  Representatives  in  Congress.  But  no  Senator  or 
Representative,  or  person  holding  any  office  of  trust  or 
iprofit  under  the  United  States,  can  be  appointed  an 
Elector.  The  Electors  meet  in  their  respective  States, 
and  vote  by  ballot  for  two  persons,  one  of  whom,  at 
least,  must  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with 
themselves.  They  make  a  list  of  all  the  persons  voted 
for,  and  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  they  sign, 
certify,  and  transmit,  sealed,  to  the  seat  of  government 
of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the 
Senate,  who,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  opens  all  the  certificates,  and  the 
votes  are  counted.  He  who  has  the  greatest  number  of 
votes  is  President,  if  that  number  make  a  majority  of 
all  the  Electors  appointed.  In  choosing  the  President, 
the  votes  are  taken  by  States,  the  representation  from 
each  State  having  one  vote;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose 
consists  of  a  Member  or  Members  from  two-thirds  of 
the  States ;  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  is  necessary 
to  a  choice.  After  the  choice  of  a  President,  the  per- 
son having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  Electors 
is  Vice-President.  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  U^TED  STATES. 

choosing  Electors,  and  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give 
their  votes — the  day  being  the  same  throughout  the 
United  States.  The  President  must  be  a  natural  born 
citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of 
adopting  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  be  thirty-five 
years  old,  and  have  been  fourteen  years  a  resident 
within  the  United  States.  In  case  of  the  removal  of  the 
President  from  office,  or  of  his  death,  resignation,  or 
inability,  the  same  devolves  on  the  Vice-President,  and 
Congress  may,  by  law,  provide  for  the  case  of  removal, 
death,  or  inability,  both  of  the  President  and  Vice-Pre- 
sident, declaring  what  officer  shall  act  as  President  until 
the  disability  be  removed,  or  a  President  elected. 

By  the  IZth  article  of  the  amendments  to  the  Federal 
Constitution,  it  is  provided  that  the  Electors  shall  name 
in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  President,  and 
in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Vice-Presi- 
dent; but  no  one,  constitutionally  ineligible  as  Presi- 
dent, shall  be  eligible  as  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States. 

This  amendment  is  no  improvement.  The  design  of 
the  original  Constitution  was  to  put  two  efficient  persons, 
at  least,  in  nomination  for  the  presidency ;  one  of  whom 
being  chosen,  the  other  would  be  competent  to  fill  the 
office  in  the  event  of  any  accident  befalling  the  Presi- 
dent. But,  because  in  the  year  1801,  Mr.  Burr  had 
nearly  jostled  Mr.  Jefferson  out  of  the  presidency,  this 
amendment  was  introduced,  in  order  to  prevent  any 
future  collision  between  the  presidential  and  vice-presi- 
dential candidates.  The  consequence  has  been,  that 
not  a  single  efficient  person  has  been  elected  to  the 
vice-presidency  since  this  amendment  became  part  of 
the  Constitution.  The  office,  ever  since  that  time,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  designated  either  for  superannuated 
and  decrepit  men,  or  for  persons  peculiarly  marked  by 
their  mental  imbecility,  and  individual  unimportance. 

The  Constitution  provides,  that  the  President  shall 
be  elected  by  Electors  appointed  by  the  State  legisla- 
ture, and  prohibits  Congressmen  from  having  either  vote 
«r  influence  in  the  matter.  This  provision  of  the  Con- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

stitution  also  Mr.  Jefferson  has  annulled,  by  a  practical 
amendment  called  a  caucus.  This  felicitous  invention 
is  carried  into  full  effect,  by  convening  a  meeting  of  all 
the  democratic  Members  of  Congress,  as  well  Senators 
as  Representatives,  to  settle  among  themselves,  in  the 
City  of  Washington,  who  shall  be  the  next  President 
and  Vice  President.  Which  being  done,  they  send  cir- 
culars to  every  State,  setting  forth  the  candidates  they 
recommend,  who,  as  a  thing  of  course,  are  voted  for  by 
all  the  Electors  in  the  democratic  States.  In  this  man- 
ner Mr.  Madison  was  made  President ;  and  thus,  also, 
Mr.  Munroe  was  chosen,  although  with  some  difficulty, 
as  the  democratic  Congressmen  were,  at  first,  in  a  ma- 
jority for  Mr.  Crawford,  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  But, 
as  Virginia  could  not  permit  a  President  of  the  United 
States  to  be  produced  without  the  pale  of  her  own  do- 
minion, she  having  filled  the  presidential  chair  with  her 
own  citizens  twenty-four  out  of  the  twenty-eight  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  the  establishment  of  the  Fe- 
deral Constitution,  Mr.  Crawford  himself  and  his  friends 
were  induced,  after  two  or  three  meetings  of  the  cau- 
cus, to  yield  to  the  Virginian  claims  of  Mr.  Monroe, 
who  was  accordingly  nominated ;  whereupon  the  usual 
circular  was  sent  to  the  several  States,  whose  legisla- 
tures accordingly  appointed  Electors  who  voted  for 
Mr.  Monroe,  who  was  elected  President. 

This  is,  in  effect,  taking  the  election  of  President  of 
the  United  States  out  of  the  hands  of  the  people,  and 
transferring  it  to  those  of  an  oligarchy  of  Congressmen. 
In  March,  1816,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  dis- 
cussed the  propriety  of  amending  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution, by  establishing  an  uniform  mode  of  election,  by 
districts,  of  Electors  of  President  and  Vice  President. 
The  proposition  was  negatived ;  but  the  remarks  of  Mr. 
Rufus  King,  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  New- York, 
and  one  of  the  Members  of  the  General  Convention  that 
framed  the  Constitution,  on  that  question,  deserve  the 
full  consideration  of  every  sober  statesman.  Mr.  King 
said,  "  The  States  may  now  severally  direct  the  manner 

21 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UKITED  STATES. 

of  choosing  their  own  Electors ;  it  is  proposed  that  the 
manner  shall  be  prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  This 
would  be  an  important  change,  and  an  improvement. 
If  there  was  any  part  of  the  Constitution,  deemed  by 
its  framers  and  advocates  to  be  better  secured  than  any 
other  against  the  enterprises  which  have  since  occurred, 
it  was  the  very  provision  on  the  subject  of  election  to 
the  presidency.  The  idea  was,  that  the  action  of  that 
particular  agency,  which  has  since  controlled  it,  was  as 
much  displaced  by  the  constitutional  plan  of  electing 
the  President  and  Vice  President,  as  could  possibly  be 
devised.  The  opinion  had  been,  that  all  undue  agency 
or  influence  was  entirely  guarded  against;  that  the 
men,  selected  by  the  people  from  their  own  body, 
would  give  their  votes  in  such  a  manner  as  to  afford  no 
opportunity  for  a  combination  to  change  the  freedom 
and  popular  character  which  naturally  belong  to  the 
electoral  bodies. 

"  We  all  know  the  course  which  this  thing  has  taken. 
The  election  of  a  President  of  the  United  States  is-  no 
longer  that  process  which  the  Constitution  contem- 
plated. In  conformity  with  the  original  view  of  the 
authors  of  that  instrument,  I  would  restore,  as  tho- 
roughly as  possible,  the  freedom  of  election  to  the  peo- 
ple ;  I  would  make  the  mode  of  election  uniform 
throughout  the  country,  by  throwing  the  whole  nation 
into  as  many  districts  as  there  are  Electors,  and  let 
the  people  of  each  district  choose  one  Elector.  Then 
all  the  people  in  the  country  would  stand  precisely  on 
the  same  footing ;  and  no  particular  addresses  could  be 
made  to  the  special  interests  and  particular  views  of 
particular  men,  or  particular  sections  of  the  country. 
The  course  now  pursued,  in  this  respect,  is  not  entitled 
to  that  high  distinction.  On  the  contrary,  our  progress 
in  government  is  not  for  the  better;  it  is  not  likely,- 
hereafter,  to  be  in  favour  of  popular  rights.  It  was 
with  the  people  the  Constitution  meant  to  place  the 
election  of  the  chief  magistrate ;  that  being  the  source 
the  least  liable  to  be  corrupt.  But  if,  under  the  name 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  163 

of  the  liberty  of  the  people,  we  put  this  power  into 
other  hands,  with  different  interests,  we  place  it  in  a 
situation  in  which  the  rights  of  the  people  are  violated. 

"  With  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  the 
freedom  of  the  country,  no  man  can  name  a  matter  so 
important  as  the  choice  of  the  President  of  the  nation.  It 
is  an  infirmity  in  our  natures,  that  we  look  for  chiefs  and 
rulers,  either  for  their  superior  virtue,  or  their  supposed 
subserviency  to  the  views  of  those  in  subordinate  situa- 
tions. It  is  against  the  evil  of  the  latter  principle  we 
must  guard.  The  liberties  of  the  people  are  more  af- 
fected by  the  choice  of  President,  than  by  any  other  or- 
dinary political  act.  In  this  point,  they  are  vulnerable ; 
here  ought  the  rights  of  the  people  and  of  the  States 
to  be  guarded.  Our  existence,  and  the  passions  of  the 
present  day,  are  ephemeral ;  public  liberty  should  be 
immortal.  Considering  the  Senate  should  be  to  the 
people,  and  the  States,  not  only  the  safe  guardians  of 
their  rights,  but  the  protectors  of  their  liberty,  I  hope 
they  Avill  adopt  a  provision,  so  nearly  connected  with  the 
perpetuation  of  both.  All  experience  has  shown,  that 
the  people  of  any  country  are  most  competent  to  a  cor- 
rect designation  of  their  first  magistrate.  So  far  as  his- 
tory affords  us  light,  it  leads  us  to  this  point ;  that  in 
times  of  difficulty  and  peril  to  a  nation,  when  it  is  in 
the  utmost  need  of  superior  talent  for  its  high  stations, 
no  tribunal  is  more  competent  to  discern,  and  select  it, 
than  the  people.  Intrigue,  turbulence,  and  corruption, 
may  have  some  sway  in  quiet  times,  when  all  is  tran- 
quillity, in  regard  to  the  general  situation  of  the  country ; 
but  when  the  ship  of  state  is  in  danger,  turbulence 
ceases,  and  the  best  men  are,  by  an  instinctive  power, 
fixed  on  by  the  people  for  their  governors.  This  has 
bejen  wonderfully  illustrated  by  history;  and  the  best 
designations  of  magistrates  have  been  produced  in  this 
way. 

"  My  sober  view  is,  that  as  to  the  election  of  chief  ma- 
gistrate of  this  nation,  nobody  is  so  competent  as  the 
great  body  of  the  freemen  to  make  a  proper  selection. 
Whether,  on  this  question,  their  first  impression  should  be 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

taken,  is  a  question  of  great  importance :  there  would  be 
difficulty  in  making  the  returns  of  the  votes ;  those  who 
collected  and  compared  the  votes,  might  defeat  the  choice 
of  the  people.  Not  that  these  objections  are  insuperable ; 
and  the  course  of  things,  under  the  present  mode  of  choos- 
ing a  president,  is  in  its  nature  pernicious ;  and  has  a  ten- 
dency to  prevent  the  object  intended  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, of  a  pure  elective  magistracy.  Men  now  live,  who 
will  probably  see  the  end  of  our  government,  as  we 
now  go  on ;  terminate  when  it  will,  the  termination  will 
not  be  in  favour  of  public  liberty.  For  five  years  past, 
I  have  seen  a  character  developing  itself,  the  predomi- 
nance of  which  I  fear.  Not  a  people  on  earth  are 
more  capable  of  high  excitement  than  this  people. 
During  the  excitement  of  the  passion,  to  which  I  refer, 
if  a  contested  election  occurs,  the  gownsmen  must 
stand  aside ;  another  character  supersedes  them ;  and 
there  can  be  little  difficulty  in  judging  what  will  be  the 
result.  The  march  from  military  rule  to  despotism,  is 
certain,  invariable.  Those  who  think  they  see  the  pro- 
bable tendency  of  our  present  system,  should  interpose 
something  remedial.  The  people  in  this  particular,  are  the 
best  keepers  of  their  own  rights;  and  any  device  to  remove 
that  power  from  them,  weakens  its  security.  I  know 
that  this  proposition,  if  agreed  to,  will  break  down  the 
power  of  the  great  States ;  I  have  no  objection,  if  in 
curtailing  their  power,  the  same  measure  regulates  the 
rights  of  the  whole  nation  equally.  I  am  willing  to  let 
the  election  for  the  presidency  rest  wholly  on  the 
people." 

And  in  the  same  debate,  General  Harper,  a  Senator 
from  Maryland,  said,  that  as  to  the  main  proposition,  he 
was  decidedly  in  its  favour,  for  this  general  reason ;  that 
its  adoption  would  tend  to  make  the  election  of  Presi- 
dent less  a  matter  of  juggle  and  intrigue  than  they  now 
are.  He  would  not  say  that  it  would  have  the  effect  of 
wholly  excluding  intrigue ;  of  placing  this  great  elec- 
tion on  the  footing,  on  which  the  great  men  who  framed 
the  Constitution,  vainly  imagined  they  were  placing  it, 
of  a  free,  unbiassed  expression  of  the  public  will ;  but 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

it  would  bring  it  nearer  than  at  present.  Party  ar- 
rangements and  bargains  would  not  be  so  easy.  Bar- 
gains could  not  be  so  readily  struck  with  one  State  for 
this  great  office,  with  another  for  that ;  as  according  to 
the  present  mode  of  election.  Districting  the  States 
for  electors,  would  have  a  tendency  to  render  the  pre- 
sidential election  more  free  and  independent ;  to  remove 
it  more  from  the  grasp  of  party  arrangements  j  to  pre- 
vent bargains  between  profligate  agents,  and  the  selling 
of  the  nation  for  offices  to  the  highest  bidder." 

The  President,  at  stated  times,  receives  for  his  servi- 
ces a  compensation,  that  can  neither  be  increased  nor 
diminished  during  the  period  for  which  he  is  elected ; 
nor  can  he  receive  within  that  period  any  other  emolu- 
ment from  the  United  States,  or  any  single  State.  Be- 
fore he  enters  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  takes 
the  following  oath  or  affirmation.  "  I  do  solemnly  swear, 
(or  affirm,)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office  of 
rresident  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best  of 
my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States !"  The  President  is  com- 
mander in  chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  when 
called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States.  He 
may  require  the  opinion  in  writing  of  the  principal  offi- 
cers, in  each  of  the  executive  departments,  upon  any 
subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices ; 
and  he  has  power  to  grant  reprieves,  and  pardons,  for 
offences  against  the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of 
impeachment.  He  has  power,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  to  make  Treaties,  provided 
two-thirds  of  the  Senators  present  concur;  and  he  no- 
minates, and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  appoints  ambassadors,  and  other  public  minis- 
ters, and  consuls,  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  all 
other  officers  of  me  United  States,  whose  appointments 
are  not  otherwise  provided  for  in  the  Constitution,  and 
which  are  established  by  law.  But  Congress  may  by 
law  vest  the  appointment  of  such  inferior  officers,  as 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

they  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts 
of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments. 

As  to  the  propriety  of  vesting  the  constitutional  pow- 
ers, allotted  to  the  President,  in  that  officer,  the  Feder- 
alist enters  into  a  most  elaborate  and  able*  discussion, 
more  particularly  upon  the  treaty-making  power,  which 
he  shares  with  the  Senate.  During  the  session  of 
1815—16,  Congress  discussed,  with  great  ability,  the 
propriety  of  confining  the  power  of  making  treaties  with 
foreign  States  to  the  President  and  Senate,  and  exclud- 
ing the  House  of  Representatives  from  all  interference 
on  that  subject.  In  that  debate  Mr.  Pinckney,  late 
American  minister  in  London,  and  now  ambassador 
from  the  United  States  to  Russia,  particularly  distin- 

fuished  himself;  and  the  able  speeches  of  Messrs.  Ran- 
olph,  Gaston,  Calhoun,  Forsythe,  and  Hopkinson, 
threw  great  light  on  some  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Constitution.  The  right,  asserted  Vy  the  House 
of  Representatives,  to  interpret  and  sanction  Treaties, 
was  negatived ;  and  properly,  because  the  Senate  is  a 
popular  body  of  representatives,  and  the  addition  of  the 
lower  house  could  furnish  no  new  principle  of  safety  or 
control.  The  practice  of  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  sanctioning  Treaties,  is  no  precedent  for  the 
lower  branch  of  the  American  Congress ;  because  in 
England  the  Executive  is  without  any  check,  in  the 
conclusion  of  Treaties,  except  the  subsequent  discussion 
and  appropriation  of  the  inferior  house  of  Parliament. 
The  Lords  have  no  share  in  the  treaty-making  power, 
although  they,  like  the  crown,  are  hereditary  ?  whereas 
our  Senate,  as  well  as  our  executive,  is  popular  and 
elective. 

The  British  government  also,  in  its  collective  branch- 
es of  King,  Lords,  and  Commons,  is  all-powerful ;  and 
the  distribution  of  its  respective  authorities  very  much 
blended  together.  But,  under  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, the  powers  are  precisely  measured  out  to  each 
branch  of  the  general  government,  and  the  power  of 
making  Treaties  with  foreign  potentates  is  specifically 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

given  to  the  President  and  Senate,  as  other  powers  are 
given  separately  to  the  House  of  Representatives  j  and 
others,  to  all  the  departments  of  government  con- 
jointly. 

The  President  is  empowered  to  fill  up  all  vacancies 
that  happen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  grant- 
ing commissions,  which  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next 
session.  He  must,  from  time  to  time,  give  Congress  in- 
formation of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to 
their  consideration  such  measures  as  he  may  judge 
necessary  and  expedient.  He  may,  on  extraordinary 
occasions,  convene  either,  or  both  houses ;  and  if  they 
disagree  as  to  the  time  of  adjournment,  he  may  adjourn 
them  to  what  time  he  thinks  proper.  He  receives  am- 
bassadors, and  other  public  ministers ;  takes  care  that 
the  laws  are  faithfully  executed,  and  commissions  all 
the  officers  of  the  United  States.  The  President,  Vice 
President,  and  all  civil  officers  of  the  United  States,  are 
removeable  from  office  on  impeachment  for  and  convic- 
tion of  treason,  bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanors. 

In  many  of  the  States  the  electors  of  the  President 
are  chosen  by  the  people ;  in  some,  by  the  state  legis- 
lature. The  Constitution  has  left  this  point  undeter- 
mined ;  it  has  only  given  Congress  the  power  to  deter- 
mine the  time  of  choosing  the  electors,  and  to  fix  a 
uniform  day,  throughout  the  United  States,  on  which 
they  shall  give  their  votes.  From  the  executive  power 
to  pardon,  cases  of  impeachment,  as  in  Britain,  are  ex- 
cepted  in  all  the  American  Constitutions ;  and  in  some 
of  the  States,  murder  and  forgery  are  also  excepted. 

If  there  be  any  one  principle  of  municipal  government 
more  imperatively  important  than  the  rest,  it  is  that  the 
executive  should  be  one  and  indivisible.  This  position 
is  most  ably  enforced  and  illustrated  by  General  Hamil- 
ton, in  the  Federalist.  The  framers  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  were  too  wise  to  encumber  the  President 
of  the  United  States  with  a  constitutional  council,  which 
he  is  compelled  to  consult.  He  is  only  authorized  to  re- 
quire of  the  principal  executive  officers  their  opinions  in 


163  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

writing,  on  any  subject  relating  to  their  official  duties. 
The  several  States  differ  on  this  part ;  some  having 
a  council,  established  by  the  Constitution,  which  the 
executive  must  consult,  and  without  whose  assent  he 
cannot  act ;  while  others  have  no  council.  The  general 
effects  resulting  from  the  institution  of  a  constitutional 
council  are,  that  they  serve  as  a  cloak  to  the  executive, 
to  cover  him  from  punishment  when  he  does  wrong ; 
and  act  as  obstacles  to  impede  his  motions,  when  he 
wishes  to  do  right.  It  is  always  best  that  the  chief 
magistrate  of  every  republic  should  act  upon  his  own 
responsibility ;  in  difficult  questions  of  the  law  he  can 
consult  the  attorney-general;  and  on  complicated  politi- 
cal cases  he  can  have  recourse  to  the  State  secretaries, 
and  high  officers.  In  a  multitudinous  executive  the 
subdivision  of  responsibility  weakens  the  hold  of  public 
opinion  and  power  upon  the  executive  councils,  and 
measures;  in  a  single  executive  the  responsibility  is 
concentred  and  operative.  Wherever  a  constitutional 
council  exists,  every  act  of  the  executive,  whether  re- 
lating to  appointments  to  office,  or  to  qualified  negatives 
upon  the  legislature,  or  to  the  pardoning  of  criminals, 
or  any  other  matter,  is  done  by  the  executive,  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  such  council. 

A  notion  has  long  prevailed  among  a  numerous  body 
of  American  politicians,  that  a  vigorous  executive  is  in- 
consistent with  the  genius  of  republican  government ; 
and,  accordingly,  not  a  single  Constitution,  State  or  fede- 
ral, gives  sufficient  power  to  the  executive.  If  the  posi- 
tion so  prevalent  with  us  were  true,  republican  govern- 
ment would  be  just  good  for  nothing;  because  the  ex- 
perience of  all  time  has  shown,  that  energy  in  the  exe- 
cutive is  a  leading  feature  in  all  good  government, 
whatever  be  its  form  or  substance.  It  is  essential  to  the 
protection  of  the  commonwealth  against  the  assaults  of 
foreign  power ;  it  is  equally  necessary  to  the  steady 
administration  of  municipal  laws  to  the  protection  of  pri- 
vate property,  (the  sheet-anchor  of  human  society,) 
from  all  arbitrary  encroachment ;  to  secure  liberty,  both 
personal  and  political,  against  the  intrigues,  enterprises. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  assaults  of  ambition,  faction,  and  anarchy.  A  feeble 
executive  implies  a  feeble  execution  of  the  government; 
weakness  in  high  places  is  never  harmless,  because  it 
involves  the  ruin  of  untold  millions  in  its  career  of  folly. 
It  is  better  for  a  nation  that  its  government  should  be 
occasionly,  decidedly,  and  vigorously  wrong,  than 
always  feebly  and  waveringly  right.  A  government 
weakly  executed,  whatever  it  may  be  in  theory,  and 
how  beautiful  soever  it  may  appear  in  manuscript,  or  in 
print,  on  paper,  or  on  parchment,  is,  for  all  the  practical 
purposes  of  the  community,  as  far  as  respects  the  pros- 
perity and  happiness  of  the  nation,  a  bad  government. 

Unity,  duration,  adequate  income,  and  competent 
powers,  are  all  requisite  to  constitute  energy  in  the 
executive.  The  observations,  at  present,  must  be  con- 
fined to  the  importance  of  executive  unity.  A  single 
executive,  and  a  numerous  legislature,  are  best  adapted 
to  unite  vigour  in  the  government,  with  deliberation 
and  wisdom  in  the  national  councils,  and  the  means  of 
conciliating  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  of  securing 
their  privileges  and  interests.  Now,  unity  is  conducive 
to  energy,  because  decision,  activity,  secrecy,  and  de- 
spatch, other  things  being  equal,  always  characterize  the 
proceedings  of  one  man  more  than  those  of  many  men 
acting  together;  and  in  proportion  as  the  number  of 
agents  is  increased,  will  be  the  indecision,  inactivity, 
want  of  secrecy,  and  positive  delay  in  all  their  move- 
ments. In  practice,  it  is  of  no  moment  whether  the 
executive  unity  is  destroyed  by  vesting  the  power  in 
two  or  more  magistrates  of  equal  dignity  and  authority ; 
or  by  vesting  it  ostensibly  in  one  man,  but  subject,  in 
whole  or  in  part,  to  the  control  and  co-operation  of 
executive  counsellors.  The  last  mode  of  dividing  and 
weakening  the  executive  government  is  incorporated  in- 
to many  of  our  State  Constitutions.  That  of  New- 
York  provides  a  Council  of  Appointment,  consisting  of  a 
Senator  from  each  of  the  four  great  districts  of  the 
State,  nominated  annually  by  the  nouse  of  assembly;  of 
this  Council  the  Governor,  or  administering  Lieutenant 
Governor,  or  president  of  the  Senate,  is  president,  and 

22    - 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

has  a  casting,  but  no  other  vote.  This  council  appoints 
to  all  the  offices  of  the  State,  except  those  provided  for 
by  the  Constitution  itself.  In  New-Jersey  the  Govern- 
or must  consult  his  Council ;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  their 
resolutions  bind  his  judgment.  In  many  other  States 
the  executive  council  has  much  more  power  over  the 
Governor  than  in  New-York  or  New-Jersey. 

A  little  reflection  will  show  the  mischief  of  dividing 
the  executive  in  any  way.  Wherever,  and  whenever 
two  or  more  men  are  engaged  in  any  common  pursuit, 
they  are  liable  to  differ  in  opinion.  If  it  be  a  high  pub- 
lic office,  in  which  they  claim  equal  dignity  and  power, 
their  difference  of  opinion  lessens  the  respectability, 
weakens  the  authority,  distracts  the  plans,  and  slackens 
the  operations  of  government.  It  also  tends  to  split  the 
community  into  violent  and  irreconcileable  factions, 
whose  mutual  animosities  continually  disturb  the  public 
peace.  It  embarrasses  the  execution  of  every  measure 
from  the  commencement  to  its  conclusion.  It  counter- 
acts, without  any  counterbalancing  benefit,  the  qualities 
most  essential  to  a  good  executive  government ;  namely, 
vigour  and  expedition.  Above  all,  in  conducting  war 
with  a  powerful  enemy,  executive  energy  is  the  great 
bulwark  of  national  security. 

In  addition  to  this,  an  executive  Council  tends  directly 
to  conceal  the  faults,  and  destroy  the  responsibility  of 
government.  Owing  to  the  multiplication  of  the  execu- 
tive, it  is  almost  impossible,  amidst  the  mutual  accusa- 
tions of  the  Governor  and  his  Council,  to  determine  on 
whom  the  blame  or  punishment  of  any  pernicious  mea- 
sure ought  to  fall.  It  is  shifted  from  one  to  another 
with  so  much  political  dexterity  and  legerdemain,  that 
the  public  is  bewildered  in  suspense  as  to  the  real  author 
of  its  calamities.  In  the  single  instance  in  which  the 
Governor  of  New- York  is  coupled  with  an  executive 
Council,  the  appointment  to  offices,  every  day's  experi- 
ence brings  to  light  additional  mischief.  Without  stoop- 
ing to  any  personal  crimination,  it  cannot  be  illiberal  to 
remark  mat  sometimes  scandalous  appointments  to  im- 
portant offices  have  been  made.  Indeed,  some  cases 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

liave  been  so  flagrant  that  all  parties  have  concurred  in 
censuring  them;  but  when  inquiry  has  been  made,  the 
blame  has  been  laid  by  the  Governor  on  the  members 
of  the  Council,  who,  in  return,  have  charged  it  upon  the 
nomination  of  his  excellency ;  while  the  people  are  at  a 
loss  to  determine  by  whose  flagitious  influence  their  in- 
terests have  been  committed  to  hands  so  incompetent. 

An  executive  Council  deprives  the  people  of  their 
two  greatest  securities  for  the  faithful  exercise  of  all 
delegated  power ;  namely,  first,  the  restraints  of  public 
opinion,  which  lose  their  efficacy  alike  on  account  of  the 
division  of  censure,  attached  to  evil  measures  among  a 
number  of  persons,  and  the  uncertainty  on  whom  the 
blame  ought  to  be  fixed  ;  and,  secondly,  the  opportunity 
of  discovering  the  actual  misconduct  of  those  whom 
they  trust,  in  order  to  remove  them  from  office,  or  sub- 
ject them  to  merited  punishment.  This  part  of  the 
scheme  of  government  seems  to  be  borrowed  from 
England,  without  any  analogy  to  warrant  such  a  loan 
from  a  monarchy  to  a  republic.  In  England  the  King 
is  an  hereditary,  perpetual  chief  magistrate;  and,  for 
the  sake  of  public  peace,  can  do  no  wrong;  nor  is  he 
himself  accountable  for  the  acts  of  his  administration, 
and  his  person  is  sacred.  Under  such  circumstances,  it 
is  necessary  to  annex  to  the  monarch  a  constitutional 
Council,  responsible  to  the  people  for  their  advice,  and 
for  the  measures  of  the  executive  government.  Other- 
wise, there  would  be  no  responsibility  in  the  executive  ; 
and,  in  the  place  of  a  free  government  would  be  substitu- 
ted an  unqualified  despotism.  Yet,  in  England,  the 
King  is  not  bound  by  the  resolutions  of  his  Council; 
although  they  are  answerable  for  their  advice  to  him, 
He  is  absolute  master  of  his  own  conduct,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  his  office,  and  may,  at  his  sole  discretion,  observe 
or  disregard  the  counsel  offered  to  him. 

But  in  a  representative  republic,  as  are  these  United 
States,  where  the  people  themselves  are  the  only  unre- 
sponsible  sovereigns  who  can  do  no  wrong,  whose  ma- 
jesty is  inviolable,  and  whose  persons  are  sacred  ;  every 
magistrate  is,  and  ought  to  be,  a  servant  of  the  public, 


172  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  personally  answerable  to  the  nation  for  his  conduct, 
while  in  office;  and,  consequently,  the  reason  which  in 
the  British  Constitution  argues  the  necessity  of  an  ex- 
ecutive council  is  strong  against  the  propriety  of  such 
an  institution  in  this  country.  In  the  monarchy  of  Eng- 
land it  furnishes  a  substitute  for  the  prohibited  respon- 
sibility of  the  chief  magistrate ;  but  in  the  American 
republic  an  executive  council  only  serves  to  diminish  the 
personal  responsibility  of  the  chief  magistrate  himself. 

The  general  prevalence  of  an  executive  council  in 
our  State  Constitutions  is  also  derived,  in  part,  from  that 
mistaken  maxim  of  republican  jealousy,  which  considers 
power  as  safer  in  the  hands  of  many  than  of  one ; 
whereas  the  executive  authority  is  more  easily  confined, 
when  single  than  when  multitudinous.  It  is  safer  to 
have  a  single  object  for  popular  vigilance  and  jealousy 
to  observe,  than  to  distract  attention  by  a  number  of 
such  objects.  All  multiplication  of  the  executive  is 
dangerous,  not  friendly  to  social  liberty.  For  the  united 
credit  and  influence  of  several  individuals  must  be  more 
formidable  than  the  credit  and  influence  of  either  of 
them  separately.  The  thirty  tyrants  of  Athens,  the  de- 
cemvirs of  Rome,  and  the  executive  directory  of  revolu- 
tionary France,  were  more  terrible  in  their  respective 
usurpations,  than  any  one  of  them  singly  could  have  been, 
and  deluged  Athens,  Rome,  and  France  with  more  na- 
tive blood.  From  either  of  such  combinations  America 
would  have  more  to  fear  and  more  to  suffer,  than  from 
the  criminal  ambition  of  any  single  President  of  the 
United  States  or  State  Governor.  An  executive  coun- 
cil to  a  magistrate,  who  is  himself  responsible  for  his 
official  acts,  is  only  a  drag-chain  upon  his  good  inten- 
tions ;  the  instrument  and  accomplice  of  his  pernicious 
measures,  and  an  effectual  covering  and  defence  of  his 
evil  deeds. 

The  power  of  pardoning  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the 
executive,  and  the  power  of  punishing  crimes  vested  in 
the  law,  must  always  be  taken  together  as  parts  of  the 
same  municipal  system.  The  law  is  fixed,  as  to  the 
punishment  of  crime,  but  a  discretionary  power  is  left 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


173 


in  the  chief  magistrate  to  moderate  the  punishment  ao 
cording  to  the  circumstances  of  commission.  The  de- 
gree and  species  of  punishment  being  fixed,  best  en- 
sures the  personal  and  political  freedom  of  the  people ; 
there  being  no  slavery  so  miserable,  as  where  the  law  is 
uncertain  in  its  exposition  and  application.  "  Misera 
servitus,  ubi  jus,  aut  vagum,  aut  incognitum"  The  pu- 
nishment being  capital  for  certain  crimes,  best  answers 
the  purposes  of  terror,  by  its  warning  example  to 
others ;  whence,  by  punishing  the  crime  severely  in  one 
instance,  its  perpetration  is,  in  many  instances,  prevent- 
ed. And  the  executive  power  of  moderating,  by  oc- 
casionally relaxing  the  severity  of  capital  punishment, 
tempers  justice  with  mercy;  and  while  it  secures  the 
authority  of  the  laws,  does  away  the  imputation  of 
making  crimes  of  different  degrees  of  malignity  equal, 
by  inflicting  death  alike  upon  all. 

In  most  civilized  nations,  the  power  of  pardoning  cer- 
tain crimes  has  been  given  to  the  executive.  It  is  pe- 
culiarly so  in  England,  whence  the  United  States  have 
borrowed  nearly  all  their  common  and  much  of  their 
statute  law.  The  King's  power  of  pardoning  is  said  by 
the  old  Saxon  jurists  to  be  derived  "  a  lege  suce  digni- 
tatis"  As  laws,  in  order  to  be  just,  must  be  general 
and  fixed  ;  and  as  it  is  impossible  precisely  to  graduate 
the  scale  of  punishment  to  the  exact  proportion  of 
crimes,  on  account  of  the  incessant  variation  of  circum- 
stances, which  renders  the  same  generic  crime  more  or 
less  atrocious  in  degree,  it  is  always  prudent  to  allow  a 
resort  for  pardon  to  the  discretion  of  the  executive,  lest 
cases  should  sometimes  occur  to  justify  Cicero's  ob- 
servation, that  "  quandoquidem,  summum  just  est  summa 
injuria."  And,  although  laws  ought  not  to  be  framed 
on  principles  of  compassion  to  guilt,  yet,  according  to 
the  constitution  of  every  free  government,  justice  should 
always  be  administered  in  mercy ;  and,  therefore,  it  is 
the  great  duty  required  from  the  British  executive,  by 
his  coronation  oath,  and  the  act  of  his  government,  most 
entirely  his  own  and  personal.  In  some  countries  the 
power  of  pardoning  in  the  executive  is  not  sufficiently 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

secured.  In  Holland,  for  instance,  under  their  old  go- 
vernment, before  the  Dutch  were  conquered  by  revolu- 
tionary France,  (what  it  is  now,  I  cannot  tell,  having 
had  no  opportunity  of  examining  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  Netherlands)  there  was  no  power  to  pardon, 
unless  there  happened  to  be  a  Stadtholder,  a  magis- 
trate, who  was  only  an  accidental  part  of  their  muni- 
cipal system.  Thus  the  Dutch  republic  omitted  to 
establish  in  its  Constitution  a  provision  essential  to  all 
sound  policy,  as  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity as  justice  itself;  nay,  in  the  opinion  of  some  of 
the  most  celebrated  jurists,  giving  to  justice  a  perfection 
of  benignity,  which  did  not  originally  belong  to  her 
stern  and  unaccommodating  nature. 

In  England,  during  all  the  varieties  and  revolutions 
of  government,  the  alternations  of  tyranny  and  anarchy 
and  well-tempered  freedom,  the  greatest  weight  has 
always  been  laid  upon  the  prerogative  of  pardoning 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  executive.  Indeed  this 
power  is  a  considerable  abatement  of  the  severity  of 
what  is  deemed  by  some  able  jurists  the  harshest  part 
of  the  criminal  law  of  England,  the  law  of  forfeiture. 
Ever  since  the  union  of  the  two  roses,  in  Henry  the 
Seventh  and  his  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  pardoning  power 
has  generally  been  employed  to  the  peace  and  preserv- 
ation of  families.  In  the  records  of  parliament,  even  in 
the  worst  times  of  the  most  tyrannical  dynasties,  from 
the  reign  of  the  Norman  Conqueror  to  the  dominion  of 
the  arbitrary  Tudors  and  execrable  Stuarts,  examples 
of  the  benignant  exercise  of  this  prerogative  are  not 
wanting :  and  since  the  revolution,  in  1 688,  in  the  better 
times  of  well-balanced  liberty,  it  has  been  peculiarly 
beneficial. 

It  is  not,  however,  to  be  dissembled  that  this  par- 
doning power  has  been  sometimes  abused  in  England 
and  elsewhere.  Towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
Century  thirty-jive  thousand  criminals  were  pardoned  at 
once,  by  a  general  act  of  grace  from  the  republic  of 
Venice,  in  order  to  raise  a  large  sum  of  money. 
Francis  the  First  of  France  gave  Cardinal  Wolsey, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


then  on  an  embassy  from  Henry  the  Eighth  of  England, 
the  power  of  pardoning  all  criminals  in  every  French 
town  through  which  he  should  pass.  The  House  of 
Commons  petitioned  Edward  the  Third  to  be  less  libe- 
ral in  pardoning  malefactors,  on  condition  of  their  serv- 
ing him  in  his  continental  wars.  With  what  unreflect- 
ing facility  the  most  atrocious  criminals  are  frequently 
pardoned  in  several  of  our  American  states,  in  order  to 
make  room  for  fresh  candidates  for  imprisonment,  is  too 
notorious  to  need  a  comment,  and  too  injurious  to  the 
community  to  be  passed  over  in  silence. 

By  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  judicial  power  of 
the  United  States  is  vested  in  one*  Supreme  Court,  and 
such  other  inferior  courts  as  Congress  may,  from  time 
to  time,  ordain  and  establish.  The  judges,  both  of  the 

V  O 

supreme  and  inferior  courts,  hold  their  offices  during 
good  behaviour  ;  and,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  their 
services  a  compensation,  not  to  be  diminished  during 
their  continuance  in  office.  The  judicial  power  extends 
to  all  cases  in  law  and  equity  arising  under  the  Consti- 
tution, the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties  made 
under  their  authority  ;  to  all  cases  affecting  ambassa- 
dors, other  public  ministers,  and  consuls  ;  to  all  cases 
of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction  ;  to  controversies 
to  which  the  United  States  are  a  party  ;  to  controversies 
between  two  or  more  States,  between  a  State  and  citi- 
zens of  another  State,  between  citizens  of  different 
States,  between  citizens  of  the  same  State  claiming 
lands  under  grants  of  different  States,  and  between  a 
State  or  its  citizens  and  foreign  States,  citizens,  or  sub- 
jects. The  Supreme  Court  has  original  jurisdiction  in 
all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers, 
and  consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  State  is  a  party.  But, 
by  the  eleventh  article  of  the  amendments  to  the  Consti- 
tution, it  is  declared,  that  the  judicial  power  of  the 
JJnited  States  shall  not  extend  to  any  suit  in  law,  or 
equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of  the 
United  States  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  citizens 
or  subjects  of  any  foreign  State. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UM  TED  STATES 

In  all  the  other  cases  beforementioned  (together  with 
the  exceptions  enumerated  above)  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  has  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to 
law  and  fact,  with  such  exceptions  and  under  such  re- 
gulations as  Congress  shall  see  fit  to  make.  The  trial 
of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  must  be 
by  jury,  and  the  trial  held  in  the  State  where  such 
crimes  have  been  committed ;  but  when  not  committed 
within  any  State,  the  trial  to  be  at  such  place  as  Con- 
gress may,  by  law,  have  directed.  Treason  against  the 
United  States  consists  only  in  levying  war  against  them, 
or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and 
comfort.  No  person  can  be  convicted  of  treason  unless 
on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act, 
or  on  confession  in  open  court.  Congress  has  power  to 
declare  the  punishment  of  treason ;  but  no  attainder  of 
treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood  or  forfeiture, 
except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted. 

The  American  law,  both  State  and  federal,  differ* 
from  that  of  England,  in  the  crime  of  treason  not  work- 
ing forfeiture  of  property,  and  corruption  of  blood. 
There  are  some  very  able  arguments  in  favour  of  the 
English  doctrine  of  attainder,  in  Lord  Hardwicke's 
"  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Forfeiture,"  and  Jn  Bishop 
Warburton's  "  Divine  Legation  of  Moses."  *  Both  these 
great  men  lay  much  stress  on  this  punishment  operating 
as  a  strong  preventive  against  the  crime,  by  holding 
up  to  the  culprit  the  certainty  of  the  extreme  infamy, 
and  absolute  penury  of  his  own  immediate  descendants 
and  kindred,  if  he  persist  in  perpetrating  the  forbidden 
act. 

Mr.  Smith  in  his  "Comparative  View,"  and  the  pre-- 
sent  Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New-York,  in  an  intro- 
ductory lecture  to  a  Course  of  Law  Lectures,  delivered 
by  him  in  November,  1794,  when  Professor  of  Law  in 
Columbia  College,  have  given  some  very  valuable  ob- 
servations on  the  American  Judiciary.  The  substance 
of  these  observations,  with  such  additional  remarks  as 
may  occur  during  the  discussion,  will  be  now  presented  \> 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

jbremising,  however,  that  the  State  Constitution  of  New- 
York  declares,  that  no  judge,  either  of  law  or  equity, 
shall  hold  his  office  after  he  reaches  the  age  of  sixty 
years.  This  seems  to  be  a  strange  constitutional  pro- 
vision, that  a  man  must  cease  to  be  a  judge,  as  soon  as 
he  is  sixty  years;  because  in  the  common  course  of 
events,  provided  he  habitually  exercises  his  mind  by 
observation,  reading,  and  reflection,  he  is  wiser,  and 
consequently  better  fitted  to  discharge  the  important 
functions  of  the  judicial  office,  after,  than  before  he 
reaches  the  age  of  sixty.  The  Spartans  were  so  well 
aware  of  this  general  truth,  at  least  practically,  that  they 
did  not  suffer  a  man  to  become  an  Ephor,  or  Judge  of 
their  highest  legal  tribunal,  until  he  had  actually  entered 
his  sixty-first  year. 

The  State  Constitution  of  New-Hampshire  prohibits 
any  judge  from  continuing  in  office  after  he  attains  the 
age  of  seventy  years.  This  limitation  as  to  age,  is  un- 
doubtedly wiser  by  ten  years,  than  the  New-York  con- 
stitutional provision,  which  cashiers  a  judge  as  soon  as 
he  is  sixty.  All  limitations  of  this  kind  are  foolish  and 
cruel;  because  they  pretend  to  point  out  the  precise 
time  when  human  intelligence  fails ;  and  then  consign  a 
man  to  absolute  want,  that  his  life  may  not  falsify  their 
prediction  of  the  appointed  decay  of  his  intellect.  Lord 
Mansfield  sate  on  the  King's  Bench  until  he  was  eighty, 
and  does  any  sound  lawyer  find  in  his  decisions,  during 
the  last  twenty  years  of  his  judicial  career,  that  incapa- 
city which  our  New-York  Constitution  fixes  upon  a 
judge,  the  moment  he  becomes  sixty  years  old  ?  At  all 
events,  if  a  limitation  be  allowable,  sixty  years  of  age 
is  too  early  a  period.  It  requires  the  habitual  diligence 
of  the  greatest  part  of  a  man's  life,  together  with  good 
sound  strong  natural  talents,  to  acquire  the  extent  and 
depth  of  information,  and  the  practical  experience,  which 
are  the  essential  requisites  of  an  able  judge ;  and  to  dis- 
qualify him  by  law,  at  a  period  of  life  when  his  know- 
ledge and  experience  could  render  him  most  competent 
to  the  due  administration  of  public  justice,  does  not  exhibit 
a  very  profound  degree  of  political  sagacity  or  wisdom. 

23 


178  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

This  limitation  is  no  less  cruel  than  absurd ;  for  it 
makes  no  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  the  discarded 
judge.  The  New-York  Constitution,  in  this  respect, 
imitates  the  conduct  of  Frederic  the  Second,  of  Prussia, 
who  boasted,  "  that  he  used  men  as  he  used  oranges, 
he  squeezed  out  the  juice,  and  threw  away  the  rind." 
For  it  casts  a  man  destitute  upon  the  world,  precisely 
at  a  time  when  he  is  not  able  to  provide  for  himself,  by 
adopting  any  other  calling ;  after  it  has  availed  itself  of 
the  youth  and  manhood,  the  time  and  talents,  the  learn- 
ing and  industry  of  him,  whom  it  consigns  to  hopeless 
penury  and  barren  sorrow.  The  least  which  ought  in 
common  justice  to  be  done,  is,  that  if  our  legislators  will 
persist  in  cashiering  a  judge  for  no  other  crime  than 
being  sixty  years  of  age,  they  allow  an  adequate  pen- 
sion for  life  to  those  whom  they  dismiss. 

Perhaps  no  one  component  part  of  the  American 
Constitutions  involves  more  momentous  effects  than  our 
judiciary  system.  Some  of  the  ablest  papers  in  the  Fe- 
deralist are  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  this  subject. 
The  two  chief  essentials  in  the  organization  of  this 
branch  of  the  government,  are,  a  proper  appointment  in 
the  first  instance ;  and  an  adequate  independence,  du- 
ring their  judicial  existence;  which  last  implies  a  per- 
manent tenure  of  office,  and  a  fixed  competent  salary. 

To  secure  the  first  object,  the  appointment  of  judges 
should  be  vested  in  that  branch  of  government,  which 
presents  the  greatest  probability  of  making  a  good,  and 
the  most  certain  responsibility,  in  the  event  of  making 
a  bad  choice.  The  executive,  if  single,  is  completely 
responsible;  a  single  chief  magistrate  will,  in  general, 
be  sufficiently  interested  in  his  own  reputation,  to  search 
for  able  men ;  a  multitudinous  executive  is  under  no  such 
pressing  responsibility;  and  a  legislative  body  are  al- 
most entirely  irresponsible.  For  voting  by  ballot,  as  is 
the  fashion  in  this  country,  their  choice  is  that  of  no  par- 
ticular member,  but  every  one  is  sheltered  from  ac- 
countability by  the  vote  of  every  other  person  present. 
Besides,  most  of  the  members  are  changed  either  annu- 
ally, or  biennially;  and  the  same  body  of  men,  which 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

elected  an  unworthy  magistrate,  existing  no  longer, 
when  his  incapacity  is  discovered,  no  public  shame  is 
attached  to  them  as  a  legislature.  The  responsibility 
of  the  executive,  although  lessened,  is  not  however  an- 
nihilated by  assigning  to  a  Senate,  or  Council,  a  nega- 
tive on  his  nomination;  and  it  is  possible  that  such  a 
negative  may  sometimes  act  as  a  salutary  check  upon 
executive  partiality ;  but  undoubtedly,  as  a  general  rule, 
a  divided  executive  is  pernicious ;  and  there  is  also,  at 
least  an  equal  chance,. mat  a  senatorial,  or  council  nega- 
tive, may  defeat  as  many  proper  nominations,  as  it  may 
prevent  improper  appointments. 

The  independence  of  the  judiciary  can  be  established 
only  by  an  official  tenure,  during  good  behaviour,  and 
by  an  adequate  compensation  for  their  services,  not  lia- 
ble to  diminution.  A  limited  commission  infallibly  cre- 
ates a  dependence  on  the  authority  invested  with  the 
power  of  reappointment ;  and  a  precarious  compensa- 
tion entails  a  miserable  dependence  upon  that  branch  of 
the  legislature  which  holds  the  public  purse.  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  effectually  secures  these 
advantages ;  for  although  the  Senate  possesses  a  check 
upon  the  nomination  of  the  President,  yet  this  qualified 
negative  is  less  injurious  when  applied  to  the  Union  at 
large,  than  in  relation  to  a  particular  State ;  because  the 
Senators  in  Congress,  representing  their  respective 
States,  are  more  likely  to  be  acquainted  with  the  merits 
and  character  of  the  person  nominated,  than  the  execu- 
tive, who  being  himself  chosen  from  one  particular  State, 
cannot  jbe  expected  to  be  so  well  informed,  as  to  the 
wants  and  wishes  of  the  other  States. 

The  federal  judges,  when  once  appointed,  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behaviour,  without  any  limitation  as 
to  age ;  and  receive  a  fixed  annual  salary,  not  subject 
to  diminution  during  their  term  of  service.  The  sala- 
ries of  these  judges,  like  those  of  all  other  officers  in 
the  Union,  whether  attached  to  the  general,  or  State 
governments,  are  not  sufficient.  Mr.  Burke,  in  his  "  Re- 
flections on  the  French  Revolution,"  offers  some  pro- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

found  and  eloquent  observations  on  the  pernicicious  pror 
digality  of  underpaying  the  public  servants  of  a  country. 

The  Constitutions  of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware, 
vest  the  appointment  of  the  judges  absolutely  in  the 
executive ;  and  contain  every  paper  requisite  to  secure 
a  good  judiciary,  except  an  adequate  salary;  the  Con- 
stitution of  New-York,  vests  the  choice  of  judges  in  the 
Council  of  Appointment;  those  of  New-Hampshire, 
Massachusetts,  and  Maryland,  in  the  Governor  and 
Council ;  those  of  Kentucky  and  Louisiana,  in  the  Go- 
vernor with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate ;  those 
of  Connecticut,  Rhode-Island,  Vermont,  New-Jersey, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ten- 
nessee, Ohio,  and  Mississippi,  in  the  legislature.  In 
North  Carolina,  however,  the  Governor  possesses  the 
power  of  nomination. 

In  most  of  the  States,  the  official  tenure  of  the  judges 
is  during  good  behaviour,  with  the  exception  of  the  li- 
mitation as  to  age,  in  New-Hampshire,  and  New-York ; 
for  instance,  in  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Kentucky,  Virginia,  North  and  South  Caro- 
linas,  Tennessee,  Louisiana,  and  Mississippi.  In  Con- 
necticut and  Rhode-Island,  the  judges  are  appointed 
annnally  ;  which  is  a  most  lamentable  provision,  because 
it  renders  the  judges  altogether  dependent  upon  the 
power  which  creates  them ;  and  what  self-confidence  can 
men  possess,  who  know  that  in  the  course  of  a  few 
months,  their  term  of  office  expires,  and  their  reappoint- 
ment  depends  upon  the  mere  pleasure  of  another  Dody, 
over  whom  they  have  neither  control  nor  influence? 
In  Rhode-Island,  the  people  have  experienced  the  full 
benefit  of  this  absurd  regulation ;  but  the  patriarchal 
customs,  and  steady  habits  of  Connecticut,  long  pre- 
vented her  from  suffering  any  very  material  injury  from 
this  deformity  in  her  political  code ;  because  it  was  a 
matter  of  course,  annually  to  reappoint  the  same  man 
as  long  as  he  lived,  unless  guilty  of  some  flagrant  mis- 
conduct. Now,  however,  Connecticut  is  beginning  to 
reap  the  fruit  of  this  ultra  democratic  provision ;  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

bids  fair  to  have  all  her  institutions  completely  revor 
lutionized. 

In  Vermont,  there  is  still  greater  danger  of  an  undue 
dependence  of  the  judges  on  the  legislature ;  for  they 
are  not  only  elected  annually,  but  the  Constitution  adds, 
"  and  oftener,  if  need  be."  An  annual  election  of  the 
judiciary  ought  to  satisfy  democracy  herself.  In  New- 
Jersey,  the  judges  of  the  superior  court  are  chosen  for 
seven,  and  of  the  inferior  court,  for  five  years.  By  the 
former  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  the  judges  were 
appointed  for  six  years,  but  the  present  Constitution  has 
had  the  wisdom  to  give  them  an  official  tenure  during 
good  behaviour.  In  Georgia,  the  judges  hold  their 
offices  only  three,  in  Ohio,  seven  years.  It  is,  however, 
matter  of  gratulation,  that  the  judges  of  this  country 
are  independent,  as  to  official  tenure,  except  in  the 
States  of  Connecticut,  Rhode-Island,  Vermont,  New- 
Jersey,  Georgia,  and  Ohio. 

The  immutability  of  compensation,  except  as  to  in- 
crease, is  essential  to  judicial  independence.  This  is 
secured  to  the  judges  in  the  Constitutions  of  the  United 
States,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Kentucky,  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  Ohio,  Louisiana,  and  Mississippi;  and 
indeed  in  every  Constitution  made  since  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Federal  government,  in  1789,  except  that 
of  Tennessee,  which  only  provides  "  that  the  judges 
of  the  superior  court  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  a 
compensation  for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by 
law;"  a  provision,  which  places  the  judges  at  the  mercy 
of  the  legislature,  who,  by  giving  or  withholding  an 
adequate  compensation,  exercise  a  power  little  short  of 
life  and  death,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  old  Shylock, 
when  he  says,  "  You  do  take  my  life,  if  you  do  take  the 
means  by  which  I  live."  The  Tennessee  Constitution 
has  also  another  singular  provision,  namely,  "  that  the 
judges  shall  not  charge  juries  with  respect  to  matters  of 
fact,  but  may  state  the  testimony,  and  declare  the  law." 
This  seems  to  be  as  much  an  extreme,  one  way,  as 
Lord  Mansfield's  doctrine  of  compelling  the  jury  not  to 
intermeddle  with  the  law  at  all,  even  when  rendering  a 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

general  verdict,  was  an  extreme  the  other  way.  At  all 
events,  the  jury  can  never  be  injured  by  an  able  and 
dispassionate  charge  of  an  enlightened  judge  upon  the 
facts  of  the  case,  more  especially  if  they  should  be  nu- 
merous and  complicated. 

In  New-Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  the  judges  are 
empowered  by  the  Constitution  to  give  their  opinion  to 
the  Governor  and  Council,  on  solemn  occasions,  and  to 
the  legislature,  on  points  of  law.  This  provision  is  of 
doubtful  policy ;  for  it  seems  best,  that  judges  should 
never  give  their  opinions  in  matters  of  law  except  from 
the  bench.  In  England,  indeed,  they  are  occasionally 
called  upon  to  deliver  their  opinions  in  the  House  of 
Lords ;  and  some  of  the  judges  are  themselves  legisla- 
tors, as  temporal  peers  in  Parliament.  But  the  separa- 
tion of  the  great  departments  of  government,  the  execu- 
tive, legislative,  and  judicial,  is  not  so  accurately  and 
extensively  established  in  Britain  as  it  ought  to  be.  And, 
moreover,  the  occasional  blending  of  these  branches  to- 
gether is  not  so  dangerous  in  the  powerful  and  stable 
government  of  a  constitutional  and  limited  monarchy  and 
an  hereditary  aristocracy,  as  amidst  the  perpetual  fluctu- 
ations of  an  elective  democracy,  where  the  only  sure 
bulwark  of  individual  liberty  is  to  be  found  in  the  pure, 
unstained  administration  of  justice  to  all  parties  in  every 
question  of  property,  person,  and  character. 

In  all  the  State  Constitutions,  and  in  that  of  the  United 
States,  the  judges  are  removable  from  their  office  by 
impeachment.  In  New-Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Louisi- 
ana, and  Mississippi,  they  are  also  removable  by  the 
Governor,  on  an  address  of  the  legislature,  for  miscon- 
duct not  sufficient  to  require  impeachment.  In  New- 
Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  the  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil may  remove,  on  the  address  of  a  majority  of  both 
houses;  in  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentuc- 
ky, and  Mississippi,  on  the  address  of  two-thirds  of  both 
houses ;  in  Louisiana,  on  the  address  of  three-fourths  of 
both  houses.  During  the  session  of  Congress,  in  1816-17, 
Mr.  Sandford,  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  New-York, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

roposed  to  amend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
y  making  the  Federal  judges  removable  from  office,  on 
the  vote  of  two-thirds  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  with 
the  consent  of  the  President.  This  alarming  innova- 
tion was  not  carried  into  effect ;  Mr.  King,  Senator  from 
New-York,  and  Mr.  Fromentin,  Senator  from  Louisiana, 
resisted  the  motion  with  great  ability  and  force,  and  the 
Senate  negatived  it  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

Such  a  provision  endangers  the  independence  of  the 
judges ;  because,  when  party  spirit  runs  high,  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  obtain  an  address  of  a  majority,  or  of 
two-thirds,  or  even  of  three-fourths  of  both  houses  of 
the  legislature  to  the  executive,  to  remove  from  office 
a  judge,  whose  chief  crime  might  be  the  belonging  to 
a  different  political  sect  from  that  ^embraced  oy  the 
dominant  faction.  In  general,  the  impeachment  of  the 
judges  is  framed  by  the  Representatives,  and  tried  be- 
fore the  Senate  or  Council ;  but,  in  Maryland  they  may 
be  removed  for  misbehaviour,  on  conviction  in  a  court 
of  law.  In  Virginia,  the  impeachment  of  the  judges  of 
the  General  Court  is  preferred  by  the  House  of  Dele- 
gates, and  tried  by  the  Court  of  Appeals ;  and  that  of 
the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  is  tried  by  the  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  In  North  Carolina  an  impeach- 
ment of  the  judges  may  be  framed  by  the  assembly  or 
grand  jury,  and  tried  by  a  Special  Court,  appointed  for 
thepurpose. 

The  American  judiciary,  both  State  and  Federal, 
possesses  an  efficacy  unknown  to  the  courts  of  justice  in 
other  countries;  I  mean,  the  power  of  bringing  the  va- 
lidity of  a  law,  a  statute,  passed  by  the  legislature, 
whether  of  a  single  State  or  of  the  United  States,  to  the 
test  of  the  letter  and  spirit  of  a  written  Constitution.  In 
Europe  it  has  scarcely  ever  been  contemplated  to  place 
any  constitutional  limits  to  the  exercise  of  legislative  au- 
thority. In  England,  where  the  Constitution  has  sepa- 
rated and  designated  the  executive,  legislative,  and  ju; 
dicial  departments  of  government,  with  greater  pre- 
cision than  any  other  nation  except  the  United  States, 
the  Parliament  is  still  considered  paramount  and  abso- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

lute,  and,  says  De  Lolme,  "  can  do  every  thing  except 
make  a  man  a  woman,  or  a  woman  a  man."  And, 
although  some  of  the  judges  have  declared  that  a  statute, 
made  against  natural  equity,  was  void,  yet  it  is  generally 
laid  down  as  a  fundamental  principle  of  English  law, 
that  no  act  of  parliament  can  be  questioned  or  disputed ; 
that,  in  no  case  whatever  can  a  judge  oppose  his  own 
opinion  and  authority  to  the  clear  wiTl  and  declaration 
of  the  legislature;  his  province  is  to  interpret  and  obey 
the  mandates  of  the  supreme  power  of  the  State.  Let 
the  inconveniences  of  a  statute  be  what  they  may,  no 
judge,  or  bench  of  judges,  can  constitutionally  dispense 
with  them ;  their  office  is  to  expound,  not  make  law ; 
and,  during  the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years,  no  instance 
has  occurred  of  any  English  judge  declaring  an  act  of 
Parliament  void,  on  account  of  its  being  unconstitutional. 
Or  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  reason  or  equity,  or 
on  any  other  ground. 

But  in  the  United  States  the  people  have  established 
certain  rights  paramount  to  the  power  of  the  ordinary 
legislature ;  a  precaution  essential  to  security,  and  neces- 
sary to  guard  against  the  occasional  triumph  and  vio- 
lence of  party,  in  a  government  altogether  popular,  elec- 
tive, and  representative.  Without  some  such  express 
provision  settled  in  the  original  compact,  as  set  forth  in 
me  written  Constitution,  and  constantly  protected  by  the 
firmness  and  moderation  pf  the  judicial  department;  the 
equal  rights  of  the  minor  party  would  probably  be  often 
disregarded  in  the  conflicts  for  political  power,  and  be 
sacrificed  to  the  fury  of  a  vindictive  majority.  No  ques- 
tion can  be  made  in  these  United  States  but  that  all 
legislative  acts,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  Consti- 
tution, ought  to  be  null  and  void.  The  only  inquiry  is. 
if  the  legislature  itself  be  a  competent  judge  of  its  OAvn 
constitutional  limits ;  or  the  business  of  determining  the 
constitutionality  of  a  statute  be  the  fit  and  exclusive  pro- 
tince  of  the  courts  of  justice  ? 

If  the  legislature  be  left  the  unresponsible  judge  of 
its  own  constitutional  barriers,  the  efficacy  of  this  check 
is  lost ;  for  the  legislature  would  incline  to  narrow  down 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

or  explain  away  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  from 
the  force  of  the  same  popular  passion,  or  some  consider- 
ations of  expediency,  which  would  lead  it  to  overturn 
private  rights,  and  invade  the  security -of  private  pro- 
perty. The  legislative  will  would  then  be  the  supreme, 
uncontrollable  law,  as  much  with  as  without  these  con- 
stitutional limits  and  safeguards.  Nor  would  the  force 
of  public  opinion  (the  only  restraint  then  left,)  be  much 
felt  or  regarded ;  for,  if  public  opinion  were  sufficient  to 
check  the  tendency  to  mischief  in  governments,  there 
would  be  no  need  of  original  limitations  and  constitu- 
tional restraints.  But  all  experience  teaches,  that  when 
powerful  political  rivalries  prevail  in  the  commonwealth, 
and  parties  are  thoroughly  disciplined  and  highly  hostile, 
every  measure  of  the  legislative  majority,  however 
tyrannical  and  flagitious,  is  sure  to  receive  the  sanction 
of  their  constituents ;  and  every  step  of  the  minor  party 
will  be  equally  approved  of  by  their  adherents,  as  well 
as  indiscriminately  rejected,  misrepresented,  and  con- 
demned by  the  voice  and  vote  of  the  prevailing  faction. 
The  courts  of  justice,  therefore,  which  are  organized 
with  peculiar  advantages,  well  calculated  to  exempt 
them,  and  their  judicial  proceedings,  from  the  influence 
of  faction,  and  to  secure  a  steady  and  impartial  interpre- 
tation of  municipal  law,  are  the  most  proper  power 
among  all  the  departments  of  government,  to  keep  the 
legislature  within  the  limits  of  prescribed  duty,  and 
maintain  inviolate  the  authority  of  the  Constitution.  It 
is  also  an  indisputable  maxirn  in  American  politics,  that 
the  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  branches  should 
be,  as  far  as  possible,  kept  distinct  and  separate.  The 
legislature  ought  not  to  exercise  the  powers  of  the  exe- 
cutive or  judiciary,  except  in  clearly  specified  cases.  An 
innovation  upon  this  distribution  of  power  tends  directly 
to  overturn  the  due  balance  of  government,  and  intro- 
duce an  unqualified  despotism.  But  the  exposition  of 
the  Constitution  is  as  much  a  judicial  act,  and  requires 
the  exercise  of  the  same  legal  discretion,  as  the  interpre- 
tation of  a  law,  whether  statute  or  common.  The 
courts  of  justice  are,  indeed,  bound  to  regard  the  Con- 

24 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATED 

stitution,  as  a  law  of  the  highest  nature — the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  to  which  every  inferior  or  derivative 
legal  regulation  must  conform,  and  be  obedient. 

The  Constitution  comes  from  the  people  in  their 
character  of  plenary  sovereignty,  when  defining  the 
permanent  conditions  of  the  social  alliance  between  the 
different  States  of  the  Union;  and,  therefore,  to  contend 
that  the  courts  of  justice  must  adhere  implicitly  to  legis- 
lative acts,  without  regarding  the  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution, is  to  contend  that  the  power  of  the  agent 
exceeds  that  of  the  principal ;  and  that  the  will  of  only 
one  concurrent  and  co-ordinate  department  of  subordi- 
nate authority  ought  to  control  the  fundamental  laws  of 
the  sovereign  people.  This  judicial  power  of  deter- 
mining the  constitutionality  of  statutes  is  necessary  to 
preserve  the  equilibrium  of  the  American  government, 
and  to  prevent  the  usurpations  of  any  one  department 
upon  the  powers  and  privileges  of  the  others.  And  of 
all  the  branches  of  government,  in  every  free  country, 
the  legislative  is  most  impetuous  and  powerful ;  whence 
the  necessity  of  arming  the  executive  with  a  negative, 
either  absolute  or  qualified,  upon  the  proceedings  of  the 
legislature.  See  some  very  ingenious  reasoning  in 
Montesquieu's  Esprit  des  Loix,  and  a  still  abler  disquisi- 
tion in  the  Federalist,  on  the  necessary  practical  separa- 
tion of  the  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  powers, 
from  which  it  appears  that  the  judicial  power  is  the 
weakest  of  the  three ;  and,  as  it  is  equally  essential  to 
the  well-being  of  the  commonwealth,  to  preserve  entire 
the  power  of  the  judiciary,  it  ought  not  to  be  left  ex- 
posed to  the  attacks  of  a  popular  legislature,  without 
adequate  means  of  constitutional  defence. 

This  is  one  reason  why  the  judges  in  the  State  of 
New-York  are  constitutionally  associated  with  the 
Governor  to  form  the  Council  of  Revision,  to  revise  all 
bills  about  to  be  passed  into  laws  by  the  legislature ; 
and  this  singular  association,  giving  a  kind  of  legislative 
power  to  the  judiciary,  renders  some  of  the  preceding 
observations  less  applicable  to  the  Constitution  of  New- 
York  than  to  that  of  any  other  free  government.  Ne- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATH& 

Tertheless,  as  a  general  principle  of  political  economy, 
and  its  kindred  science,  municipal  jurisprudence,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  right  of  expounding  the  Constitution, 
as  well  as  the  statute  law,  is  the  most  fit  and  effectual 
weapon  by  which  the  courts  of  justice  can  repel  all  hos- 
tile assaults,  and  guard  against  all  unconstitutional 
encroachments  upon  their  chartered  claims  and  rights. 
Nor  is  there  any  danger  that  the  establishment  of  this 
principle  should  exalt  the  judicial  above  the  legislative 
power;  for  they  are  co-ordinate  branches  of  govern- 
ment, and  equally  bound  by  the  Constitution ;  and 
if  the  judges  should  substitute  caprice  and  arbitrary 
will  for  the  exercise  of  sober  discretion  and  rational 
judgment,  they  are  not  left,  like  the  legislature,  to  the 
ineffectual  control  of  public  opinion ;  but  are  liable,  by 
an  express  provision  of  the  Constitution,  to  be  impeach- 
ed for  misconduct,  and  tried  by  the  legislature  ;  and,  if 
convicted,  removed  from  office. 

The  United  States,  and  the  separate  States  generally, 
acknowledge  this  power  to  reside  in  the  judiciary;  but, 
on  the  29th  of  November,  1815,  the  Georgia  House  of 
Representatives  passed  a  resolution  censuring  their 
State  judges  for  deciding  the  alleviating  law ;  that  is,  a 
statute,  passed  by  the  Georgia  legislature,  prohibiting 
the  use  of  any  legal  means  for  the  recovery  of  debts,  to 
be  unconstitutional ;  and  also  denying  to  the  judiciary 
the  right  of  giving  any  opinion  upon  the  constitution- 
ality of  legislative  acts.  This  resolution  is  sufficiently 
flagrant  and  illegal ;  because  it  denies  to  a  separate 
and  co-ordinate  branch  of  government  a  constitutional 
right,  which  has  been  acquiesced  in,  and  acted  upon, 
by  the  United  States,  by  the  other  separate  States, 
and  by  Georgia  herself,  heretofore;  a  right  which, 
from  the  very  nature  of  our  republican  institutions,  ap- 
pertains to  the  judiciary.  But  this  outrageous  resolu- 
tion scarcely  equals  the  usurping  conduct  of  the 
Georgia  Senate,  upon  whose  table,  in  November,  1815, 
was  lying  a  bill  to  compel  the  judges  to  exhibit  to  the 
legislature  all  the  Rules  of  their  Courts ;  and  to  take 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

away  from  the  bar  and  judiciary  the  right  of  establishing 
any  rules  for  their  own  government,  unless  they  have 
first  received  the  legislative  sanction. 

This  is,  at  one  stroke,  cutting  up  by  the  roots  the 
constitutional  independence  of  the  judiciary,  and  ren- 
dering the  judges  mere  passive  instruments  of  an  arbi- 
trary and  overbearing  legislature;  which  is,  in  fact, 
establishing  the  most  dangerous,  because  the  most  un- 
responsible  of  ail  tyrannies.  A  single  despot  may  be 
resisted,  called  to  account,  and  punished;  out  a  multi- 
tudinous despotism,  composed  of  a  numerous  body  of 
popular  representatives,  elected  only  for  a  short  season, 
may,  at  any  time,  crush  the  liberties,  and  trample  on 
all  the  political  rights  of  the  community,  without  con- 
trol, and  without  punishment.  Several  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  Georgia  legislature  pledged  themselves 
never  to  cease  their  exertions  until  the  omnipotence  of 
the  legislature  was  acknowledged ;  and  they  also  con- 
tended that  the  Constitution,  whether  State  or  Federal, 
is  not  law,  but  merely  the  will  of  the  people  ;  which  can 
only  be  known  by  the  voice,  resolution,  and  vote  of  its 
constitutional  organ — the  legislative  assembly — which 
is,  therefore,  paramount  in  power  and  authority  to 
every  other  department  of  government. 

The  judiciary  of  Georgia  are  sufficiently  dependent 
by  the  tenure  of  their  office,  without  any  legislative 
encroachments  upon  their  rights  and  privileges;  for 
they  are  elected  only  for  three  years,  and  are  remov- 
able by  the  Governor,  on  the  address  of  two-thirds  of 
both  houses.  Now,  judges,  who  know  that  their  re- 
election to  office  hinges  upon  the  will  and  pleasure  of 
their  electors,  at  so  short  a  distance,  cannot  feel  them- 
selves independent,  and  at  liberty  to  act  without  regard 
to  the  opinions  of  those  who  may,  or  not,  at  their  own 
discretion,  reappoint  them  to  office ;  and  the  judges 
are  equally  at  the  mercy  of  the  legislature,  when  two- 
thirds  of  the  members  can,  by  their  mere  address  to  the 
executive,  remove  them  from  office.  It  is  vain,  under 
such  circumstances,  to  expect  an  impartial  administra- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tion  of  justice.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  encroach- 
ment upon  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  judiciary  will 
not  be  imitated  by  any  other  State  in  the  Union. 

The  question,  as  to  the  power  of  trying  the  validity 
of  statutes,  by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  and 
of  treaties  with  foreign  powers,  being  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  the  judiciary,  could  not  well  arise  prior  to  the 
revolution ;  because  the  American  colonies  were  partly 
governed  by  British  statutes,  the  constitutionality  of 
which  the  English  judges  themselves  were  not  suffered 
to  examine ;  and  consequently,  a  fortiori,  no  such  au- 
thority would  have  been  tolerated  in  the  American  ju- 
diciary. Nor  were  the  colonial  legislatures  likely  to 
permit  their  judges  to  determine  the  validity  of  statutes 
enacted  by  them.  After  the  revolution,  this  power,  al- 
though not  given  in  express  words  to  the  judiciary,  was 
claimed  as  necessarily  arising  out  of  the  existence  of  a 
written  Constitution,  the  exposition  of  which,  like  that 
of  any  other  law,  can  be  safely  entrusted  only  to  the 
courts  of  justice.  It  would  be  destructive  of  all  popu- 
lar liberty,  to  permit  the  executive,  both  to  explain  and 
execute  the  law ;  nor  would  it  be  less  perilous  to  allow 
the  legislature  to  expound,  as  well  as  make  laws. 

The  federal  judiciary  decide  upon  the  validity  of  acts 
of  Congress,  State  Constitutions,  and  State  statutes, 
by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  and  foreign 
treaties ;  but  have  no  power  to  determine  the  validity 
of  State  statutes,  by  the  provisions  of  State  Constitu- 
tions ;  that  power  belonging  exclusively  to  the  State  ju- 
diciary ;  who  likewise  possess  the  right  of  trying  the 
validity  of  State  statutes,  and  State  Constitutions,  and 
acts  of  Congress,  by  the  provisions  of  foreign  treaties, 
and  of  the  federal  Constitution.  It  is  fair  to  infer,  that 
now,  the  French  and  Dutch  judiciary  have  power  to  try 
the  legality  of  the  acts  of  their  respective  legislatures, 
because  France  and  the  United  Netherlands  have  each 
a  written  Constitution ;  whereas  in  England,  the  judges 
have  no  such  power,  precisely  because  in  that  country 
there  is  no  written  Constitution,  by  the  letter  and  spirit 


190 


KfiSOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


of  whose  provisions,  the  validity  of  acts  of  Parliament 
may  be  examined  and  determined. 

It  is  important,  that  such  a  power  should  be  lodged 
in  the  judiciary  of  every  country ;  because,  although  the 
cammon  law  possesses  the  peculiar  faculty  of  adapting 
itself  to  the  growth  of  the  community,  and  of  amending 
itself,  in  consequence  of  erroneous  decisions  being  over- 
ruled by  subsequent  judges,  or  by  the  same  judgea, 
when  better  advised ;  yet,  a  statute.,  if  unrepealed,  and 
if  the  statute  book  be  never  revised,  makes  an  integral 
and  permanent  part  of  the  municipal  law ;  and  the  ex- 
perience of  all  history  shows,  that  statutes  are  some- 
times passed  amidst  the  heat  and  fury,  the  fire  and  smoke 
of  party  violence  and  wrong ;  whence,  the  necessity  of 
that  two-fold  guard,  which  so  happily  exists  in  our 
State  of  New- York;  namely,  the  power  of  the  judi- 
ciary to  try  the  legality  of  each  statute,  by  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Constitution;  and  the  occasional  revision 
of  the  statute  book,  in  order  to  expunge  those  legisla- 
tive acts,  which  the  progress  of  time,  (the  greatest  of 
all  innovators,  as  Lord  Bacon  calls  him,)  the  change  of 
circumstances,  and  the  growth  of  the  community,  might 
have  rendered  either  obsolete,  or  impracticable,  or  per- 
nicious. 

The  federal  Constitution  provides,  that  full  faith  and 
credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State,  to  the  public  acts, 
records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other  State ; 
and  Congress  may,  by  penal  laws,  prescribe  the  man- 
ner in  which  such  acts,  records,  and  proceedings  shall 
be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof.  This  provision  of  the 
Constitution  has  been  seconded  by  an  act  of  Congress, 
declaring  that  the  records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of 
each  State,  shall  have  such  faith  and  credit  given  to  them 
in  every  court  within  the  United  States,  as  they  have  by 
law,  or  usage  in  the  courts  of  the  State  whence  these 
records  are  taken. 

This  provision  of  the  federal  Constitution,  probably 
was  intended,  gradually  to  reduce  to  one  wholesome 
level  of  agreement,  the  laws,  and  judicial  decisions  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


191 


the  several  States  of  the  Union;  in  like  manner  as  th« 
law  decisions  of  the  different  courts  in  England  have 
been  brought  to  agree,  in  all  great  legal  and  equitable 
principles,  by  the  long-continued,  and  well-directed  ef- 
forts of  able,  enlightened,  and  upright  judges.  "La 
diversite  des  loix  civiles  (say  the  distinguished  jurists, 
who  compiled  the  Napoleon  Code,)  est,  comme  la  di- 
versite de  religion,  ou  de  langage,  une  barriere,  qui  rend 
etrangers,  1'un  a  Pautre,  les  peuples  les  plus  voisins,  et 
qui  les  empeche  de  multiplier  entr'eux  des  transac- 
tions de  tout  genre,  et  de  concourir  ainsi  mutuellement 
a  Paccroissement  de  leur  prosperite."  Indeed,  nothing 
tends  so  directly  to  establish  the  whole  community  in 
social  order,  prosperity,  and  strength,  as  the  prevalence 
of  harmony  and  uniformity,  in  the  judicial  decisions  of 
the  different  courts  of  justice  throughout  the  country. 
Such  a  uniformity  in  the  decisions  of  our  courts,  both 
State  and  federal,  would  prove  the  surest  and  firmest 
cement  of  a  durable  political  union,  in  the  American 
confederacy. 

The  law  decisions  of  the  different  English  courts 
used  to  clash  with  each  other,  until  the  publication  of 
the  various  modern  reporters  gradually  brought  the  legal 
judgments  of  the  King's  Bench,  Common  Pleas,  and 
Exchequer,  to  a  salutary  uniformity;  which  greatly 
augments  the  peace  and  security  both  of  person  ana 
property;  and  consequently,  greatly  increases  the  na- 
tional prosperity  and  strength  of  the  whole  British  peo- 
Ele.  Those  persons  who  have  diligently  studied  the 
iw  of  England,  as  the  foundation  of  American  law, 
throughout  all  the  States,  know  that  for  more  than  a 
century  past,  indeed  ever  since  the  complete  establish- 
ment of  the  revolution,  towards  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  a  constant,  deliberate,  and  upright  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  founded  upon  the  most  rational 
principles,  has  prevailed  in  the  different  courts  of  the 
feritisn  empire. 

If  this  provision  of  the  Constitution  was  intended  to 
promote  a  uniformity  of  laws  and  judicial  decisions 
throughout  the  United  States,  it  has  not  succeeded ;  for 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STA 


TKS. 


192 

there  are  actually  no  less  than  three  different  legal  doc- 
trines afloat  in  the  different  States,  upon  this  single  con- 
stitutional clause;  in  some  States  a  sister  judgment,  that 
is,  a  judgment  rendered  in  one  of  the  sister  States  of  the 
Union,  is  held  to  be  of  no  more  validity  than  a  foreign 
judgment,  that  is,  a  judgment  rendered  in  any  State,  or 
country,  unconnected  with  our  American  confederacy, 
for  example,  France  or  England ;  in  other  States,  a  sis- 
ter judgment  is  held  equal  to  a  domestic  judgment,  that 
is,  a  judgment  rendered  in  the  State,  taking  cognizance 
of  the  sister  judgment ;  in  other  States  again,  a  sister 
judgment  is  considered  as  a  kind  of  tertium  quid,  as  not 
quite  so  high  as  a  domestic,  nor  quite  so  low  as  a  foreign 
judgment. 

Indeed,  the  discrepancy  between  the  laws  of  our  dif- 
ferent States  produces  serious  evil,  by  retarding  anc 
perverting  the  course  of  justice.  For  example,  in  some 
of  the  States  an  attachment  law  prevails,  under  which  a 
person,  absent  from  the  State,  may  have  a  judgment 
rendered  against  him,  that  shall  bind  all  his  property 
all  over  the  world,  without  any  personal  notice  being 
given  to  him,  or  any  opportunity  afforded  for  him  to  de- 
fend the  suit;  which  is  a  mode  of  proceeding  contrary 
to  the  first  principles  of  justice.  This  attachment  law 
is  in  full  force  throughout  all  the  New-England  and 
many  of  the  southern  and  western  States,  while  the 
middle  States  hold  it  in  abhorrence,  as  contrary  to  the 
principles  of  the  common  law,  and  endeavour  to  defeal 
its  efficacy  in  their  own  tribunals.  The  laws  in  the 
southern  and  western  districts  of  the  Union  are  gene- 
rally very  lax,  and  favour  the  debtor  at  the  expense  of 
the  creditor.  Nor  ar£  they  very  scrupulous  in  enfor- 
cing contracts.  During  the  last  winter,  a  gentleman  of 
the  City  of  New-York,  intending  to  remove  into  the 
State  01  Kentucky,  bargained  with  a  servant,  to  pay  his 
expenses  of  travelling  thither,  and  a  certain  rate  of 
wages  for  one  year,  the  servant,  on  his  part,  contract- 
ing to  remain  with  and  serve  his  master  faithfully 
during  that  period.  On  their  arrival  in  Kentucky,  the 
servant  refused  to  live  any  longer  with  his  master,  be- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  j  93 

cause  he  could  do  better  for  himself.  The  master  ap- 
plies to  the  law  for  redress,  and  a  Kentucky  jury, 
(which  is,  in  truth,  the  judge,  both  of  law  and  fact,) 
dissolves  the  contract,  on  the  ground  that  the  servant 
was  not  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  western 
country  when  he  made  the  bargain.  The  master  was 
without  redress,  and,  in  addition  to  losing  all  the  mo- 
ney expended  in  conveying  his  servant  a  journey  of 
nearly  one  thousand  miles,  he  was  saddled  with  the 
costs  of  the  suit  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
justice. 

By  parity  of  reasoning,  a  contract  made  in  London  or 
Paris  ought  not  to  be  enforced  in  New- York,  because 
the  contracting  party  did  not  know  the  nature  of  New- 
York,  when  he  made  the  contract.  Such  a  loose  and 
vitious  administration  of  municipal  law  argues  and  in- 
creases a  very  lax  state  of  public  morals  and  of  public 
feeling  in  regard  to  the  eternal  distinctions  between 
right  and  wrong. 

A  crime  committed  in  one  State  is  not  punishable  in 
another;  for  example,  if  a  man  steals  a  horse  or  kills  his 
neighbour  here,  in  the  city  of  New-York,  and  crosses 
the  ferry  into  the  State  of  New-Jersey,  he  may  escape 
punishment  altogether,  for  the  New-Jersey  law  takes 
no  cognizance  of  a  crime  committed  in  the  State  of 
New- York,  and  the  New-York  law  has  no  jurisdiction 
in  the  State  of  New-Jersey.  Under  such  circumstances, 
the  only  chance  of  punishing  the  culprit  lies  in  a  pro- 
vision of  the  Federal  Constitution,  which  gives  the  citi- 
zens of  each  State  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of 
citizens  in  the  several  States ;  and  declares  that  a  per- 
son charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other 
crime,  who  flies  from  justice,  and  is  found  in  another 
State,  shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive  authority  of 
the  State  whence  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  to  be  removed 
to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  th&  crime. 

But  so  little  efficacy  has  this  constitutional  provision 
in  preventing  the  commission  of  crime,  that  it  is  the 
common  practice  of  our  citizens  to  pass  from  one  State 
into  another  for  the  purpose  of  fighting  a  duel ;  which 

25 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

done,  the  surviving  parties  return  to  the  State  which 
they  had  expressly  left  in  order  to  commit  a  breach  of 
the  laws,  and  deride  all  notion  of  punishment  In  the 
lapse  of  little  more  than  one  year,  the  late  General  Ha- 
milton and  his  eldest  son  both  crossed  over  the  Hudson, 
to  be  killed  on  the  New-Jersey  shore,  and  their  surviving 
antagonists  have  never  been  called  to  any  legal  account 
for  destroying  two  of  the  brightest  ornaments  and 
surest  bulwarks  of  the  nation.  "  Thus  Abner  died  as 
a  fool  dieth;"  and  the  peerless  Hamilton  has  added  his 
name  to  swell  the  long  and  bloody  muster-roll  of  those 
who  have  fallen  victims  at  the  shrine  of  the  worst  rem- 
nant of  Gothic  barbarity  and  feudal  homicide.  The 
Christian  requires  no  arguments  to  be  urged  against  the 
prevailing  practice  of  fashionable  murder;  for  the 
Christian  knows  that  man  has  no  right,  either  to  seek 
his  fellow's  life,  or  to  throw  away  his  own,  (except  at 
his  country's  call)  but  that  he  is  accountable  alike  for 
his  own  and  his  brother's  blood  to  the  God  of  the 
spirits  of  all  flesh. 

But  to  that  portion  of  the  community,  which  is  not 
sufficiently  under  the  control  of  religious  feeling,  this  is  a 
subject  of  deepest  import.  In  the  United  States,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  population,  more  duels  are  annually 
fought  than  in  any  other  nominally  Christian  country ;  and 
of  these  duels  a  greater  number  is  fatal,  owing  to  the  su- 
perior practice  and  skill,  and  the  more  deliberate  deadly 
coolness  with  which  the  Americans  aim  at  each  other's 
life.  How  many  families  are,  at  this  moment,  sorrowing, 
in  hopeless  misery,  over  the  loss  of  a  father,  or  a  hus- 
band, or  a  brother,  or  a  son,  who  either  has  been,  or  who 
might  have  become,  not  only  the  prop  and  support  of 
his  kindred  house,  but  the  defence  arid  glory  of  his  ad- 
miring country ;  who  might  have  led  her  armies  to  vic- 
tory, or  shaken  her  Senate  with  the  thunders  of  his  elo- 
quence, or  have  built  her  up  into  a  high  and  palmy 
state  of  national  honour  and  strength,  by  the  wisdom  of 

j 

his  counsel !  If  the  laws  are  ineffectual,  and  the  guar- 
dians of  those  laws  slumber  on  their  post  of  duty,  it  is 
high  time  for  the  moral  force  of  the  country  to  be  put 


feESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATED. 


195 


in  requisition ;  for  the  men  of  talents,  character,  pro- 
perty, and  influence  in  the  community  to  unite  their 
efforts,  to  stand  in  the  gap  between  the  dead  and  the 
living,  to  stay  the  plague,  and  bid  the  destroying  angel 
depart  from  our  reformed  land  for  ever. 

It  is  all-important  for  the  permanent  security,  repose, 
and  prosperous  condition  of  the  United  States,  that  the 
administration  of  justice,  both  civil  and  criminal,  should 
be  uniform  and  certain  throughout  the  whole  Union. 
Doubtless,  the  multiplication  of  our  Slate  Reporters  will, 
in  process  of  time,  exercise  a  very  salutary  influence  in 
producing  this  desirable  uniformity  in  the  law  decisions 
of  the  different  State  courts.  But  a  scrupulous  con- 
formity to  that  clause  of  the  Constitution,  which  de- 
clares, "  that  full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  to  the 
public  acts,  records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  each 
State  in  any  other  State,"  would  more  certainly  and 
more  speedily  produce  this  great  effect;  since  the 
habit  of  receiving  the  judicial  proceedings  of  each 
State  in  every  other  State,  as  equally  binding  with 
those  of  its  own,  would  soon  induce  the  different  State 
courts  to  assimilate  their  law  opinions,  principles,  and 
decisions  with  each  other,  as  the  legitimate  effect  of 
such  constant  and  friendly  intercourse.  Whereas,  by 
treating  the  judgments  of  sister  States  merely  as  fo- 
reign judgments,  they  necessarily  tend  to  recede  as 
far  from  any  amicable  assimilation  with  them  as  with 
the  decisions  of  foreign  courts.  But  nothing  would 
so  directly  conduce  to  consolidate  the  strength,  and 
prolong  the  duration  of  the  American  Union,  as  a 
uniformity  in  the  legal  provisions  of  the  constitutions, 
statutes,  and  common  law  judgments  of  the  several 
States  composing  that  Union.  Such  a  course  of  pro- 
ceeding would,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  enable  America  to 
exhibit  a  more  complete  digest  of  municipal  jurispru- 
dence than  the  world  has  yet  seen ;  because  she  has  an 
opportunity  of  borrowing  from  the  two  great  systems  of 
legal  civilization,  the  civil  and  the  common  law,  what- 
ever is  best  calculated  to  promote  and  protect  the  spirit 
of  her  own  popular  institutions,  and  to  combine  with 


196  RESOURCES  OF  fHE  UNITED  STATES. 

what  she  thus  borrows,  the  lights  of  her  own  various 
and  progressive  experience  in  the  different  departments 
of  human  society,  political,  commercial,  and  scientific. 
This  is  the  more  important  to  strive  after,  because  the 
science  of  legislation  is  yet,  of  necessity,  crude  and  im- 
perfect in  this  young  and  growing  republic,  owing  to 
the  want  of  long-continued  political  experience,  and  the 
extreme  facility  and  latitude  of  empirical  experiments 
upon  the  body  politic,  which  the  supreme  sovereignty 
of  so  many  separate  independent  republican  Slates  af- 
fords and  encourages. 

And  it  is  full  time  that  the  people  of  this  country 
should  learn  the  necessity  of  ballasting  the  speculative 
projects  of  the  sanguine,  the  credulous,  the  precipitate 
political  innovator  with  the  cautious  deliberation,  the 
practical  wisdom  of  the  experienced,  forecasting  states- 
man, of  the  profound  and  enlightened  judge.  Then, 
indeed,  might  the  whole  Federal  Union  be  melted 
down  into  one  living  body  of  national  peace,  security, 
permanent  prosperity,  and  power,  by  the  gradual  diffu- 
sion of  a  uniform  system  of  municipal  law  over  all  the 
different  confederated  State  sovereignties.  It  would 
not  then  be  easy,  even  for  the  hydra-headed  monster 
faction  herself,  to  disentangle  the  warp  and  the  woof 
which  might  be  interwoven,  thread  upon  thread, 
throughout  all  the  texture  of  society. 

The  Federal  Constitution  provides,  that  no  person 
held  to  labour  or  service  in  one  State,  under  its  laws, 
escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law 
or  regulation  of  that  other  State,  be  discharged  from 
such  service  or  labour,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on 
claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labour  may 
be  due.  This  provision  enables  the  master  of  a  run- 
away slave  to  claim  him,  even  in  a  State,  the  municipal 
law  of  which  has  abolished  or  prohibited  slavery,  be- 
cause the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  the  su- 
preme law  of  the  land,  to  which  all  State  laws  must 
yield.  Otherwise  such  fugitive  slaves  would  be  pro- 
tected, because  in  all  penal  or  criminal  matters,  munici- 
pal law  permits  no  interference  on  the  part  of  local  law,- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


and  the  lex  loci  not  operating,  even  in  civil  cases,  as  on 
personal  contracts,  whenever  its  operation  would  clash 
with  or  contradict  the  provisions  of  municipal  law. 
Ohio,  who  has  prohibited  the  existence  of  slavery  by 
her  Constitution,  borders  on  all  sides  upon  slave-holding 
States,  from  which  runaway  slaves  often  escape  into 
her  dominion,  and  her  reluctance,  not  to  say  absolute 
refusal,  to  give  up  such  fugitives  to  their  owners,  ha* 
recently  occasioned  considerable  heat  and  animosity  be- 
tween her  and  her  neighbour  Kentucky,  who  possesses  a 
large  body  of  slaves  within  her  territory,  and  shows  no 
inclination  to  diminish  their  number. 

The  Constitution  also  provides,  that  new  States  may 
be  admitted  by  Congress  into  the  Union  ;  but  no  new 
State  formed  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  State; 
nor  any  State  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or  more 
States,  without  the  consent  of  the  legislatures  of  the 
States  concerned,  as  well  as  of  Congress.  Congress  has 
power  to  dispose  of,  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regu- 
lations respecting  the  territory,  or  other  property  belong- 
ing to  the  United  States  ;  and  nothing  in  the  Constitu- 
tion shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State.  The 
United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  the 
Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion;  and  on  application  of 
the  legislature,  or  of  the  executive,  when  the  legisla- 
ture cannot  be  convened,  against  domestic  violence. 
Congress,  whenever  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  shall 
deem  it  necessary,  shall  propose  amendments  to  the  Con- 
stitution; or  on  the  application  of  the  legislatures  of 
two-thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call  a  convention 
for  proposing  amendments;  which  in  either  case  shall 
be  valid,  as  part  of  the  Constitution,  when  ratified  by 
the  legislatures  of  three-fourths  of  the  several  States. 
or  by  conventions  in  three-fourths  of  the  States  as  one, 
or  other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  Con- 
gress; provided,  that  no  amendment  made  prior  to  the 
year  1808,  shall  aifect  the  provisions  respecting-  the  mi- 
gration, or  importation  of  persons  into,  or  from  the  se-. 


J98  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATUS. 

veral  States,  and  the  imposition  of  capitation,  or  other 
direct  taxes ;  and  provided,  that  no  htate,  without  its 
consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the 
Senate. 

All  debts  contracted,  and  engagements  entered  into 
before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  shall  be  valid 
against  the  United  States,  under  the  Constitution,  as 
under  the  confederation.  The  Constitution,  and  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  made  in  pursuance  thereof, 
and  all  treaties  made  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  the 
judges  ia  every  State  bound  thereby,  any  thing  in  the 
Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding. The  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
Congress,  and  the  members  of  the  several  State  legis- 
latures, and  all  executive  and  judicial  officers,  both  of 
the  United  and  the  several  States,  shall  be  bound  by 
oath,  or  affirmation,  to  support  the  Constitution  ;  but  no 
religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to 
any  office,  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States. 

The  amendments  already  made  to  the  Constitution 
are,  that  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an 
establishment  of  religion  ;  or  prohibiting  the  free  exer- 
cise thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of 
the  press,  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  as- 
semble and  petition  government  for  a  redress  of  griev- 
ances. A  well  regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the 
security  of  a  free  State,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep 
and  bear  arms,  shall  not  be  infringed.  No  soldier  shall 
in  time  of  peace  be  quartered  in  any  house  without  the 
consent  of  the  owner ;  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  man- 
ner to  be  prescribed  by  law.  The  right  of  the  people 
to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers,  and  effects, 
against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be 
violated;  and  no  warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  proba- 
ble cause,  supported  by  oath,  or  affirmation,  and  parti- 
cularly describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  per- 
sons or  things  to  be  seized.  No  one  shall  be  held  to 
answer  for  a  capital,  or  otherwise  infamous  crime,  unless 
on  a  presentment,  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury;  e?- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


199 


cept  in  cases  arising  in  the  land,  or  naval  forces,  or  mi- 
litia, when  in  actual  service,  in  time  of  war  or  public 
danger ;  nor  shall  any  one  be  subject  for  the  same  of- 
fence, to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb;  nor 
shall  be  compelled  in  any  criminal  case,  to  be  witness 
against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  pro- 
perty, without  due  process  of  law ;  nor  shall  private 
property  be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  compen- 
sation. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  have  a 
right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury 
of  the  State  and  district  wherein  the  crime  was  com- 
mitted; (which  district  shall  have  been  previously  as- 
certained by  law;)  and  be  informed  of  me  nature  and 
cause  of  the  accusation,  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses 
against  him,  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  .wit- 
nesses in  his  favour,  and  have  the  assistance  of  counsel 
for  his  defence.  In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the 
value  in  controversy  exceeds  twenty  dollars,  the  right 
of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved ;  and  no  fact  tried  by 
jury,  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  court  of  the 
United  States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  com- 
mon law.  Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  ex- 
cessive fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishment 
inflicted.  The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  cer- 
tain rights,  shall  not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage 
others  retained  by  the  people.  The  powers  not  delega- 
ted to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohi- 
bited by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  re- 
spectively, or  to  the  people.  The  judicial  power  of  the 
United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to  extend  to  any 
suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted  against 
one  of  the  United  States,  by  citizens  of  another  State, 
or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  State.  The 
electors  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for 
as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots,  the  person  voted  for 
as  Vice  President ;  but  no  person,  constitutionally  ineli- 
gible to  the  office  of  President,  shall  be  eligible  to  that 
of  Vice  President  of  the  United  States. 


200  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

It  is  a  very  important  provision,  which  prescribes  the 
mode  of  proposing  and  carrying  into  effect  future 
amendments  to  the  Constitution,  without  hazarding  a  dis- 
solution of  the  confederacy,  or  suspending  the  opera- 
tion of  the  existing  government.  Accordingly,  twelve 
additional  Articles  were  appended,  as  amendments  to 
the  Constitution,  within  a  few  years  after  it  first  went 
into  operation ;  and,  in  the  year  1 804,  the  amendment 
respecting  the  election  of  President  and  Vice  President 
was  added.  The  amendment  may  be  effected  either  on 
a  recommendation  from  Congress,  whenever  two-thirds 
of  both  houses  concur  in  the  expediency  of  such  a  mea- 
sure ;  or,  by  a  mode  which  secures  to  the  separate 
States  an  influence,  in  case  Congress  should  neglect  to 
recommend  such  amendments.  Both  these  modes  ap- 
pear to  be  good ;  of  the  efficacy  of  the  first  the  nation 
has  had  full  experience,  in  the  amendments  already 
made.  The  second  seems  a  fit  mode,  whenever  the 
general  government  shall  betray  such  symptoms  of  cor- 
ruption as  to  render  it  expedient  for  the  several  States 
to  exert  themselves,  in  order  to  apply  some  radical  and 
effectual  remedy. 

It  is  not  easy  to  bestow  too  much  praise  upon  this 
Article  of  the  Constitution,  which  thus  provides  a  safe 
and  peaceable  remedy  for  its  own  defects,  as  they  may, 
from  time  to  time,  be  discovered.  A  change  of  govern- 
ment, in  other  countries,  is  generally  attended  with  con- 
vulsions that  menace  its  entire  dissolution,  and  portend 
scenes  of  horror  and  bloodshed  that  deter  mankind  from 
attempting  to  correct  abuses,  or  remove  oppressions, 
until  they  have  become  altogether  intolerable — when  a 
national  explosion  ensues  that  buries  all  the  orders  of 
the  State  beneath  its  ruins.  Nor  need  it  be  apprehend- 
ed that  this  salutary  provision  in  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion will,  of  itself,  produce  instability  in  the  general 
government.  For  the  mode,  both  of  originating  and 
ratifying  amendments,  directed  by  the  Constitution,  must 
necessarily  be  attended  with  such  obstacles  and  delays, 
as  must  prove  a  sufficient  bar  against  light  or  frequent 
innovations. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  201 

Several  amendments  have  been  proposed  by  the 
States  of  Virginia,  New-York,  North  Carolina,  Massa- 
chusetts, New-Hampshire,  Rhode-Island,  and  South 
Carolina,  at  different  times,  in  convention ;  they  are  all 
collected  in  the  3d,  4th,  7th,  and  8th  volumes  of  the 
American  Museum.  Some  of  them  appear  to  have 
been  offered  only  ex  abundanti  cautela,  as  security  against 
misconstruction,  or  an  undue  extension  of  the  powers 
vested  in  the  federal  government ;  while  others  seem  to 
have  been  calculated  to  remedy  some  radical  defects  in 
the  national  system.  Two  other  unsuccessful  efforts  to 
amend  the  Constitution  have  been  made  since  the  pub- 
lication of  the  American  Museum ;  namely,  one  on  the 
12th  of  April,  1808,  submitted  by  Mr.  Hillhouse,  a 
respectable  Senator  in  Congress  from  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut, to  the  Senate  of  me  United  States.  His  pro- 
positions were  many,  and  the  speech  enforcing  them 
ingenious  and  acute.  The  chief  amendment  proposed 
was,  in  fact,  a  virtual  abolition  of  the  executive,  as  a 
separate  branch  of  the  American  government,  by  re- 
ducing the  President's  term  of  service  from  four  years 
to  one,  by  lowering  his  salary,  by  transferring  from 
him  to  the  Senate  the  power  of  appointing  to,  and  re- 
moving from  office ;  and  by  annually  choosing  by  ballot 
the  executive  from  a  given  number  of  Senators. 

Mr.  Hillhouse  contended  that  many  advantages  would 
flow  to  the  United  States  from  this  proposed  alteration 
in  the  form  and  substance  of  their  government.  But, 
without  minutely  considering  the  various  fallacies  of  this 
scheme,  it  is  sufficient  to  observe,  that  the  mere  circum- 
stance of  blending  together  the  executive  and  legisla- 
tive departments,  Avould  entail  innumerable  evils  upon 
America,  and  speedily  erect  an  unmitigated  despotism 
upon  the  ruins  of  the  Republic.  The  practical,  as  well 
as  theoretic  division  of  powers  in  a  government  into  the 
three  distinct  departments  of  executive,  legislative,  and 
judicial,  being  the  corner-stone  of  social  liberty,  and  an. 
orderly,  upright  administration  of  the  commonwealth. 
Mr.  Hillhouse's  plan  of  amendment  was  rejected  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  by  a  large  majority. 

26 


202  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

On  the  15th  of  December,  1814,  a  convention  of  de- 
legates from  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
and  Rhode-Island,  the  counties  of  Cheshire  and  Grafton, 
in  the  State    of  New-Hampshire,  and    the    county  of 
Windham,  in  the  State  of  Vermont,  met  at  Hartford,  in 
Connecticut,  to  propose  amendments  to  the  Constitution. 
In  order  to  accomplish  which,  they  published  a  general 
view  of  the  measures  that   they  deemed  essential  to 
secure  the  Union  against  the  recurrence  of  those  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  which  they  thought  arose  from  the 
radical  defect  of  the  Constitution  itself,  aided  by  an  un- 
wise and  impolitic  administration  of  the  general  govern- 
ment.    The  amendments  proposed  were — First.   That 
representatives  and  direct  taxes  should  be  apportioned 
among  the  several  States  included  within  the  Union, 
according  to   their  respective  numbers  of  free  persons, 
including  those  bound  to  serve  for  a  term  of  years,  and 
excluding  Indians   not   taxed   and    all   other  persons. 
Secondly.  No  new  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union 
by  Congress,  without  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of 
both  houses.      Thirdly.  Congress  shall  not  have  power 
to  lay  any  embargo  on  the  ships  or  vessels  of  the  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  in  the  ports  and  harbours 
thereof,  for  more  than  sixty  days.     Fourthly.  Congress 
shall  not  have  power,  without  the  concurrence  of  two- 
thirds  of  both  houses,  to  interdict  the  commercial  inter- 
course   between   the  United    States  and   any  foreign 
nation,  or  its  dependencies.     Fifthly.  Congress  shall  not 
make   or  declare  war,   or  authorize    acts    of  hostility 
against  any  foreign  nation,  without  the  concurrence  of 
two-thirds  of  both  houses,  except  such  acts  of  hostility 
be  in  defence  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  when 
actually  invaded.     Sixthly.  No  person,  who  shall  here- 
after be  naturalized,  shall  be  eligible  as  a  member  of 
the  Senate  or  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States,  nor  capable  of  holding  any  civil  office  under  the 
authority  of  the  United  States.     Seventhly.  The  same 
person  shall  not  be  elected   President  of  the  United 
States  a  second  time ;  nor  shall  the  President  be  elected 
two  terms  in  succession  from  the  same  State. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  203 

These  resolutions  were  forwarded,  by  the  Hartford 
Convention,  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  in 
the  Union,  by  a  majority  of  which  they  were  rejected; 
and,  by  those  of  New-York  and  Virginia,  assailed  with 
all  the  bitterness  of  reproach. 

The  Federalist,  doubtless,  is  equal  to  any  work,  an- 
cient or  modern,  in  political  philosophy,  judicial  wisdom, 
and  profound,  perspicuous,  comprehensive  reasoning; 
but  it  plays  the  part  of  an  advocate  for  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  whose  excellences  it  blazons  forth 
with  matchless  ability,  but  whose  radical  defects  it  cau- 
tiously conceals  from  public  view.  The  proof  of  this 
lies  in  the  fact,  that  General  Hamilton,  the  principal 
writer  in  this  work,  has  left,  in  his  own  handwriting, 
the  draught  of  a  Constitution  far  more  efficient  than  that 
which  he  praises  so  elaborately  and  ably,  under  the  sig- 
nature of  Publius.  The  truth  is,  all  the  tendencies  to 
weakness  and  disunion,  in  the  frame  and  texture  of  the 
American  governments  were,  from  the  beginning,  ma- 
nifest to  his  sagacity  and  genius.  He  had  long  observ- 
ed that,  in  the  revolutionary  war,  the  independence  of 
his  country  was  perpetually  endangered  by  the  imbe- 
cility of  its  government;  and  that,  for  some  years  after 
the  establishment  of  peace,  in  1783,  the  loss  of  reputa- 
tion, and  the  sacrifice  of  its  best  interests,  flowed  from 
the  same  source.  He  laboured,  therefore,  to  erect  a 
government  of  sufficient  force  and  energy  to  protect  and 
guide  its  own  people  at  home,  and  secure  reverence  and 
honour  in  the  eyes  of  foreign  nations.  And,  in  the 
general  convention  of  1787,  he  pressed,  with  all  the 
weight  of  his  stupendous  talents,  the  necessity  of  adopt- 
ing a  more  efficient  form  of  government,  as  will  fully 
appear,  if  ever  his  most  able  and  eloquent  speech  on 
that  occasion  shall  be  published.  He  drew  the  follow- 
ing outline  of  a  plan  of  government  for  the  United 
States,  as  better  calculated  than  the  present  Constitu- 
tion to  combine  national  strength  with  popular  liberty. 

First.  The  supreme  legislative  power  of  the  United 
States  of  America  to  be  vested  in  two  different  bodies 
of  men;  one  to  be  called  the  Assembly,  the  other  the* 


204  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Senate:  who,  together,  shall  form  the  legislature  of  the 
United  States,  with  power  to  pass  all  laws  whatsoever, 
subject  to  the  negative  hereafter  mentioned.  Secondly. 
The  Assembly  to  consist  of  persons  elepted  by  the  peo- 
ple to  serve  for  three  years.  IJtirdly.  The  Senate  to 
consist  of  persons  elected  to  serve  during  good  behaviour; 
their  election  to  be  made  by  electors  chosen  for  that 
purpose  by  the  people ;  the  States  to  be  divided  into 
election  districts.  On  the  death,  removal,  or  resigna- 
tion of  any  Senator,  his  place  to  be  filled  out  of  the  dis- 
trict whence  he  came. 

Fourthly.  The  supreme  executive  authority  of  the 
United  States  to  be  vested  in  a  Governor,  elected  during 
good  behaviour,  by  electors  chosen  by  the  people  in  the 
election  districts ;  the  Governor  to  have  a  negative  upon, 
all  laws  about  to  be  passed,  and  the  execution  of  all 
laws  passed ;  to  have  the  direction  of  war,  when  au- 
thorized or  begun ;  to  have,  with  the  advice  and  con- 
sent of  the  Senate,  the  power  of  making  all  treaties;  to 
have  the  sole  appointment  of  the  heads  or  chief  officers 
of  finance  and  foreign  affairs  ;  to  have  the  nomination 
of  all  other  officers,  including  ambassadors  to  foreign 
nations,  but  subject  to  the  approbation  or  rejection  of 
the  Senate ;  to  have  the  power  of  pardoning  all  offences, 
except  treason,  which  he  shall  not  pardon  without  the 
approbation  of  the  Senate.  Fifthly.  On  the  death,  re- 
signation, or  removal  of  the  Governor,  his  authorities 
and  functions  to  be  exercised  by  the  president  of  the 
Senate,  until  a  successor  be  appointed.  Sixthly.  The 
Senate  to  have  the  sole  power  to  declare  war;  the 
power  to  advise  and  approve  all  treaties ;  to  approve 
or  reject  all  appointments  of  officers,  except  the  heads 
or  chiefs  of  the  departments  of  finance,  war,  and  foreign 
affairs. 

Seventhly.  The  supreme  judicial  authority  of  the 
United  States,  to  be  vested  in  judges,  to  hold  their  office 
during  good  behaviour,  with  adequate  and  permanent  sa- 
laries; the  court  to  have  original  jurisdiction  in  all  cases 
of  capture ;  and  an  appellate  jurisdiction  in  all  causes,  in 
which  the  revenues  of  the  general  government,  or  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  205 

citizens  of  foreign  nations  are  concerned.  Eighthly. 
The  legislature  of  the  United  States  to  have  power  to 
institute  courts  in  each  State  for  the  determination  of  all 
matters  of  general  concern.  Ninthly.  The  Governor, 
Senators,  and  all  officers  of  the  United  States,  to  be 
liable  to  impeachment  for  mal  and  corrupt  conduct; 
and  on  conviction,  to  be  removed  from  office,  and  dis- 
qualified from  holding  any  place  of  trust  or  profit.  All 
impeachments  to  be  tried  by  a  court,  consisting  of  the 
Chief  Justice,  or  Judge  of  the  superior  couft  of  law,  of 
each  State;  provided,  such  judge  hold  his  place  during 
good  behaviour,  and  have  a  permanent  salary.  Tenlhly. 
All  laws  of  the  particular  States,  contrary  to  the  Con- 
stitution, or  laws  of  the  United  States,  to  be  void ;  and 
the  better  to  prevent  such  laws  from  being  passed,  the 
Governor,  or  President  of  each  State,  shall  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  general  government;  and  shall  have  a 
negative  upon  the  laws  about  to  be  passed  in  his  State. 
Eleventhly.  No  State  to  have  any  force,  land  or  naval; 
and  the  militia  to  be  under  the  sole  and  exclusive  direc- 
tion of  the  United  States;  who  shall  appoint  and  com- 
mission the  militia  officers. 

The  chief  points  in  which  General  Hamilton's  scheme 
differs  from  the  present  federal  Constitution  are,  the 
superior  permanency  of  the  Senate,  the  longer  duration, 
and  greater  power  of  the  executive,  and  the  more  ex- 
tensive control  of  the  general  government  over  the  se- 
parate States.  But  although  General  Washington  ap- 
proved of  these  provisions,  as  calculated  to  protect  the 
country  from  disorder  and  anarchy  within,  and  from  im- 
potence and  contempt  abroad,  yet  he  would  not  ven- 
ture to  recommend  so  efficient  a  measure  to  the  dele- 
gates assembled  together  in  the  national  convention; 
and  quoted  the  well-known  saying  of  Solon,  who,  on 
being  asked  if  he  had  framed  the  best  possible  laws  for 
the  Athenians?  answered,  "JVb,  but  the  best  laws, 
which  the  people  of  Athens,  in  their  present  temper 
and  situation,  will  bear." 

The  distinguishing  features  of  all  the  American 
Constitutions,  as  they  now  stand,  are,  that  they  make 


206  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

every  office  elective,  as  contradistinguished  from  the  he- 
reditary tenures  prevailing  in  monarchial  and  aristo- 
cratic forms  of  government;  and  also,  that  while  they 
provide  amply  for  the  protection  of  personal  liberty,  and 
the  property  of  individuals,  which  is,  indeed,  the  only 
sure  foundation  of  all  good  government,  they  do  not 
sufficiently  attend  to  promoting  the  two  other  great  re- 
quisites of  good  government;  namely,  putting  a  strong 
and  permanent  disposeable  force  into  the  hands  of  the 
executive ;  ^nd  developing  the  national  mind  on  a  great 
scale,  by  instituting  and  encouraging  large  and  liberal 
systems  of  general  instruction.  In  most  other  coun- 
tries, the  government  is  all,  and  the  people  nothing ;  in 
the  United  States,  the  people  are  all,  and  the  govern- 
ment nothing.  The  same  general  principle  applies  to 
all  paper  constitutions,  which  applies  to  all  statute  law ; 
namely,  that  so  perpetual  is  me  fluctuation  of  human 
affairs,  so  various  the  modifications  of  which  property 
is  susceptible,  so  boundless  the  diversity  of  relations, 
which  may  arise  in  civil  life,  so  infinite  the  possible  com- 
binations of  events  and  circumstances,  that  they  elude 
the  power  of  enumeration,  and  mock  all  the  efforts  of 
human  foresight.  Whence,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  wise 
and  good  government  to  abstain  from  too  great  a  rage 
for  multiplying  statutes,  and  from  too  much  minuteness 
in  specifying  the  particular  powers  of  the  municipal  de- 
partments. It  is  best,  under  the  responsibility  of  im- 
peachment for  mal-conduct,  to  leave  to  the  powers  of 
government,  more  especially  the  executive,  a  sufficiently 
undefined  latitude  of  authority,  to  enable  them  to  adapt 
the  necessary  national  measures  to  those  exigencies 
which  are  continually  arising ;  but  which  no  paper  con- 
stitution can  possibly  provide  for,  or  foresee. 

Having  gone  through  a  summary  of  the  provisions  of 
the  United  States  Constitution,  it  is  proposed  now,  to 
offer  some  general  observations  on  the  radical,  the  in- 
trinsic weakness  of  the  Federal  government ;  the  neces- 
sity of  gradually  strengthening  it,  more  especially  in  its 
executive  branch ;  and,  above  all,  the  necessity  of  a 
vigorous  administration  of  the  general  government  upon 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  207 

Federal  principles,  that  is  to  say,  the  principles  on  which 
the  Constitution  itself  was  founded    and   constructed. 
This  was  done  by  General  Washington,  throughout  the 
whole  course  of  his  administration ;    and  Mr.  Adams 
appeared  to  begin  his  presidential  career  in  the  same 
track;  but,  towards  its  close,  his  policy  assumed  an  as- 
pect  peculiarly  strange  and  wayward,    visionary  and 
fantastic,  turbulent  and  unsettled.     Mr.  Jefferson  and 
Mr.  Madison  avowedly  administered  the  general  govern- 
ment altogether  upon  the  democratic  scheme,  and  set 
themselves  stoutly  to  the  task  of  undoing  all  that  Wash- 
ington had  done ;  namely,  disbanding  the  regular  army, 
destroying   the  national  navy,   annihilating  the  internal 
revenue,  ruining  the  commerce  of  the  country,  breaking 
up  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  many  other  phi- 
losophical improvements  in  the  art  of  misgoverning  the 
commonwealth.     Those  who  profess  to  be  the  intimate 
friends  of  Mr.  Monroe,  and  to  be  acquainted  with  his 
sentiments,  are  labouring  strenuously  to  cause  the  Ame- 
rican people  to  believe  that  our  new  President  intends 
to  folloAV  the  good  old  Federal  plan  of  General  Wash- 
ington, and   watch  over  the   finances,   encourage  the 
commerce,  nourish  the  navy,  protect  the  army,  cherish 
the  liberty,  prosperity,  strength,  and  happiness  of  the 
nation  at  home,  and  secure  its  respect  and  influence 
i  abroad ;  that  the  miserable  party  distinctions  of  Federalist 
;  and  Democrat  are  to  be  for  ever  abolished,  and  a  po- 
litical millennium  to  be  established  throughout  the  Union. 
It  is  the  more  to  be  lamented,  that  the  Federal  go- 
vernment should  have  been  ever  administered  on  demo- 
cratic principles,  because  it  is,  in  its  essential  conform- 
ation, too  weak  at  once  to  balance  the  weight  of  the 
separate  State  sovereignties,  to  maintain  its  own  steady 
dominion  over  all  the  portions  of  its  immense  Union, 
and  to  build  up  the  nation  at  large,  by  certain  steps, 
into  a  paramount  power,  influencing  and  controlling  the 
greater  potentates  of  the  elder  quarters  of  the  globe. 
The  great  statesmen  (led  by  Washington  himself,  and 
illumined  by  the  transcendent  genius  of  Hamilton)  who- 
framed  the  Federal  Constitution,  earnestly  deprecated 


208  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  notion  of  its  being  considered  or  conducted  as  a  de- 
mocracy. And  many  very  elaborate  and  able  argu- 
ments, founded  on  a  careful  induction  from  facts  record- 
ed in  history,  and  resting  on  the  basis  of  the  most  ap- 
proved principles  of  political  philosophy,  were  adduced 
to  prove  that  the  general  government  of  the  United 
States  is  not  a  democracy,  but  that  care  had  been  taken 
by  the  General  Convention,  which  met  at  Philadelphia, 
in  the  year  1787,  to  infuse,  as  much  as  existing  circum- 
stances would  allow,  of  the  wisdom  and  energy  of  aris- 
tocracy, to  temper  and  restrain  the  turbulence,  the 
fluctuation,  and  the  weakness  of  unbalanced  democracy, 
Avhich  they  emphatically  declared  to  be  the  greatest 
misfortune  that  could  be  inflicted  on  any  country. 

These  illustrious  sages  and  practical  politicians  knew 
full  well,  that  an  uncontrolled  democracy  had  destroyed 
Athens,  and  Carthage,  and  Rome,  and  the  Italian  re- 
publics of  the  middle  ages,  and  the  United  Provinces  of 
Holland.  To  which  melancholy  muster-roll  of  perdi- 
tion may  now  be  added  the  dominion  of  revolutionary 
France.  They,  therefore,  feared  that  the  prevalence 
of  an  unchecked  democracy  throughout  the  United  States 
would  consign  to  destruction  the  liberties,  the  wealth, 
the  honour,  the  character,  the  happiness,  the  religion, 
the  morals,  the  whole  august  fabric  of  public  prosperity 
and  private  worth,  which  have,  at  some  auspicious  pe- 
riods of  their  history,  so  peculiarly  distinguished  the 
national  career  of  the  confederated  States  of  America. 

It  is  the  bounden  duty  of  the  people  of  every  free 
country,  to  watch  over  and  preserve  their  own  liberties, 
by  keeping  the  declarations  and  measures  of  their  rulers 
within  the  bounds  of  delegated  dominion,  prescribed  by 
the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  national  Constitution. 
And  it  is  equally  the  duty  of  the  government  of  every 
free  country  to  guard  against  all  encroachments  upon 
the  liberties  of  the  people ;  to  encourage  the  equal  and 
impartial  administration  of  justice  :  to  promote  the  best 
interests  of  learning  ;  to  foster  the  arts  and  sciences ;  to 
quicken  the  activity  of  agriculture,  manufactures,  and 
commerce,  and  every  species  of  productive  industry  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  200 

skill;  to  reverence  and  aid  the  progress  of  pure  religion 
and  sound  morals,  in  all  the  various  denominations  of 
religious  belief,  and  throughout  all  the  classes  of  the 
community ;  in  a  word,  to  labour  unremittingly  to  ren- 
der the  people  prosperous  and  happy  at  home,  respect- 
ed, feared,  and  courted  abroad. 

In  order  to  accomplish  these  great  purposes,  it  is 
one,  among  many,  of  the  indispensable  duties  of  the 
government  to  exclude  all  foreigners  from  any  political 
interference  or  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 
They  should  be  protected  equally  with  the  natives  in 
all  the  pursuits  of  private  industry  and  enterprise,  but 
should  never  be  permitted  to  lay  their  unhallowed  hands 
upon  the  ark  of  the  national  government ;  to  invade  the 
recesses  of  the  executive  cabinet ;  to  violate  the  sanctity 
of  the  temple  of  legislation,  or  to  pollute  the  ermine  of 
justice  in  the  tribunals  of  the  country.  All  men,  unless 
they  are  unsound  at  the  heart's  core,  cling  with  fond 
attachment  to  the  land  that  gave  them  birth,  to  its  hills, 
and  dales,  and  woods ;  to  its  people,  government,  and 
laws;  to  all  the  associations,  physical  and  moral,  that 
exercise  the  strongest  dominion  over  the  human  mind. 
All  such  associations,  prejudices,  and  predilections  every 
honest  foreigner  necessarily  carries  with  him  into  Ame- 
rican office ;  into  the  service  of  a  country,  whose  social 
institutions,  taken  altogether,  have  no  parallel  in  the 
history  of  the  world.-  If  a  foreigner  does  not  love  his 
own  native  country,  does  not  desire  her  well-being  and 
prosperity,  what  kind  of  heart  has  he  ?  Can  a  traitor 
at  home  be  faithful  abroad  ?  Can  one,  who  aims  the 
assassin's  knife  at  the  vitals  of  his  own  parent  country, 
be  fitted  to  uphold  the  great  national  interests  of  a 
stranger  land  ?  Are  unnatural  hatred,  dastardly  re- 
venge, and  cannibal  malignity  to  be  mistaken  for  lofty 
patriotism,  comprehensive  wisdom,  and  unblenched  in- 
tegrity? 

It  is  indeed  mere  madness  and  political  suicide,  in  any 
and  in  every  country  to  suffer  foreigners  to  have  a  poli- 
tical vote  ;  to  permit  them  to  elect  or  be  elected  to  any 
office  in  the  State,  from  that  of  the  chief  executive  of 

27 


210 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  iLNITEt)  STATES. 


the  whole  nation  down  to  the  lowest  ministerial  officer 
in  the  obscurest  hamlet  of  an  obscure  district.  It  is 
quite  enough  that  a  foreigner  be  protected  in  his  person, 
his  property,  his  reputation,  his  individual  efforts  in  his 
calling,  by  the  equal  administration  of  justice  dealt  out 
to  him  in  common  with  all  the  other  inhabitants  of  the 
community.  But  every  country  ought  to  be  exclusively 
governed  by  its  own  native  talent  and  property.  In 
every  nation  that  arrogates  to  itself  the  proud  preroga- 
tive of  being  an  independent  substantive  power,  its  own 
native  warriors  should  lead  their  armies ;  its  own  native 
heroes  should  bear  their  naval  thunders  over  every  sea ; 
its  own  native  statesmen  should  guide  the  councils,  re- 
gulate the  finances,  administer  the  government  of  their 
country;  its  own  native  judges  should  dispense  the 
streams  of  law,  justice,  and  equity  throughout  all  the 
land ;  that  the  people,  growing  up  under  the  shelter  of 
the  talent,  property,  and  character  of  their  natural  guar- 
dians, may,  through  a  long  series  of  years,  advance  in 
prosperity,  intelligence,  wealth,  and  power,  until  they 
become  the  bulwark  and  ornament  of  a  surrounding 
world.  Let  America,  in  the  day  of  her  exaltation,  re- 
member the  advice  of  Rome's  best  poet : 

"  Tu  regere  imperio  populos,  Romane,  memento  ; 
Hae  tibi  erunt  artes  ;  pacisque  imponere  Morem, 
Parcere  subjectis,  et  debellare  superbos." 

General  Washington  administered  the  government  o 
the  United  States  with  a  practical  efficiency  and  wis 
dom,  peculiarly  calculated  to  render  the  country  pros 
perous  at  home,  and  respected  abroad.     Owing  to  va 
rious  untoward  causes,  the  chief  of  which,  however,  was 
the   entire  inefficacy  of  the   old    Confederation  of  the 
States,  this  country  was  in  the  most  deplorable  condi- 
tion when  President  Washington  first  took  upon  him- 
self the  administration  of  the  Federal  government,  in 
the  year  1789.     The  whole  nation  stood  upon  the  verge 
of  dissolution ;    all    the  national   movements   at  home 
were  full  of  disorder  and  confusion,  and  abroad  full  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  2H 

weakness  and  folly ;  the  finances  were  dilapidated ;  the 
commerce  annihilated ;  the  manufactures  sinking ;  the 
agriculture  depressed;  an  internal  faction  availed  itself 
of  and  increased  every  domestic  tumult  and  distress,  in 
order  to  lay  prostrate  all  the  wholesome  restraints  of 
legitimate  government  and  effective  laws ;  the  great  body 
of  the  people  themselves  were  rushing  headlong  into 
revolt  and  insurrection  against  all  the  lawful  authorities, 
both  State  and  Continental. 

Are  not  the  knowledge  and  remembrance  of  all  these 
evils  so  many  additional  incitements  to  cling  to  and  pro- 
tect the  Federal  Union  ? — that  mighty  remedy  which 
was  found  for  the  healing  of  all  these  national  disorders 
— that  Federal  Union  which  gave  form  and  pressure,  a 
body  and  a  soul,  life,  health,  and  spirit,  strength,  beauty, 
and  power,  to  the  disjointed,  perishing  members  of  these 
United  States — that  Federal  Union  which,  if  preserved, 
cherished,  and  progressively  strengthened,  cannot  fail  to 
build  up  the  whole  extent  of  this  vast  continent  into  im- 
perial magnificence,  wealth,  and  power ; — protecting, 
exalting  all  its  own  citizens  and  subjects;  and  com- 
manding the  respect  of  all  other  nations ; — that  Federal 
Union  which,  if  once  dissolved,  ensures  the  breaking  up 
of  the  foundations  of  civil  order,  peace,  and  safety,  over 
all  the  range  of  this  extensive  territory ;  ensures  a  per- 
petuity of  the  anarchy,  civil  war,  carnage,  and  desola- 
tion that  in  the  elder  ages  of  the  world  deformed  the 
fair  face  of  the  Grecian  commonwealths  ;  and  which,  in 
a  more  recent  period,  fastened  upon  all  the  Germanic 
Empire,  and  on  nearly  the  whole  circumference  of  Con- 
tinental Europe,  an  entire  century  of  uninterrupted  hos- 
tilities, with  all  their  train  of  attendant  horrors  and  una- 
voidable anguish. 

From  the  innumerable  evils  of  its  condition,  this 
country  was  at  that  time  preserved  by  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, administered  by  the  integrity  and  discretion  of 
Washington;  borne  onward,  and  guided  by  the  para- 
mount dominion  of  the  genius  of  Hamilton. 

These  great  practical  statesmen  combined  the  personal 
liberty  and  security  of  the  individual  citizen  with  an 


212  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

effective  administration  of  the  national  government  j 
with  an  apt  disposition  of  the  public  force ;  with  the 
levying,  discipline,  and  obedience  of  a  regular  army  ; 
the  creation  and  support  of  an  heroic  navy ;  the  collec- 
tion of  a  productive  and  well-distributed  internal  reve- 
nue ;  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  religious  or- 
dinances and  moral  duties;  the  multiplication  of  the 
means  of  acquiring,  preserving,  and  enjoying  property ; 
the  general  diffusion  of  peace  and  order,  of  civil  and 
social  habits,  manners,  and  proprieties,  throughout  the 
United  States. 

These  heroes  and  sages  saw  that  no  man  has  any 
legitimate  qualification  for  office,  except  the  possession 
01  integrity,  talents,  and  knowledge,  both  speculative 
and  practical ;  that  wherever  these  qualifications  are 
found,  in  whatever  age,  or  calling,  or  condition  of  life, 
they  ought  to  be  the  unquestionable  passports  to  all  the 
offices  of  public  honour,  trust,  and  profit ; — that  every 
nation  must  be  perilously  situated,  which,  either  through 
ignorance,  or  through  the  madness  of  party  rage,  shuts 
the  gates  of  public  service  against  its  citizens  who  are 
most  illustrious  in  wisdom,  venerable  in  virtue,  and  re- 
spectable in  wealth ;  which  condemns  for  ever  to  the 
shades  of  retirement  and  privacy,  that  weight  and 
energy  of  character,  so  peculiarly  fitted  to  establish, 
and  diffuse  over  all  the  earth,  their  country's  strength 
and  glory;  which  industriously  places  the  helm  of  go- 
vernment in  the  hands  of  men  of  low  education,  of  illi- 
beral habits,  of  narrow  views,  of  sordid  occupations,  of 
visionary  brains,  of  cold,  unfeeling,  selfish  hearts  and 
dispositions. 

These  lights  and  beacons  of  their  age  knew  that  by 
the  fatal  facility  of  changing  the  form  and  aspect,  the 
body  and  substance  of  the  national  policy,  as  often,  as 
much,  and  in  as  many  ways  as  might  seem  expedient  to 
the  floating  fancies  of  moon-struck,  miserable  politicians, 
the  whole  chain  and  continuity  of  the  State  must  be  for 
ever  broken ; — all  the  golden  links  of  civilized  existence, 
which  bind  together  the  succeeding  generations  of  the 
human  race,  must  be  torn  asunder  for  ever,  and  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  2 1 3 

ages  of  men  be  no  more  than  the  swarms  of  flies  on  a 
summer's   day; — no  more   than  the  fleeting  family  of 
leaves  that  is  scattered  along  the  sky  by  the  violence  of 
the  autumnal  blast. 

These  great  architects  of  their  country's  honour 
showed,  by  the  whole  series  of  their  public  conduct, 
how  vastly  preferable  is  that  practical  administration  of 
government  which  builds  up  to  that  theoretic  policy 
which  destroys  a  country;  that  which  adorns  to  that 
which  deforms  a  nation;  that  which  enriches  to  that 
which  impoverishes  a  people  ;  that  which  whitens  every 
sea  with  the  commercial  canvass  to  that  which  drains 
the  streams,  and  dries  up  the  sources  of  trade ;  that 
which  sends  forth  a  navy,  full  freighted  with  Columbia's 
glory,  to  that  which  dismantles  all  the  ships  of  war,  and 
consigns  their  keels  to  the  dry  docks  of  destruction ; 
that  which  establishes  a  permanent  system  of  finance, 
by  a  well-arranged  internal  taxation,  to  that  which  rests 
all  the  revenue  of  a  nation  upon  the  precarious  basis  of 
duties  on  foreign  commerce. 

"  Fortunati  Ambo*  si  quid  mea  pagina  possit, 
Nulla  dies  unquatn  memori  vos  eximet  aevo." 

And  let  it  be  remembered,  as  an  additional  incitement 
for  all  honest  men  to  rampire  the  Union  round  about 
with  their  bodies,  as  with  a  living  wall,  and  guard  it 
from  danger,  that  calamitous  as  was  the  state  of  things 
in  this  country,  under  the  crazy  auspices  of  the  old  con" 
federation,  the  condition  of  the  American  people  would 
be  infinitely  more  calamitous,  if  the  federal  union  were 
now  to  be  dissevered ;  and  this  vast  continent,  with  its 
recently  added  dominion  in  the  west,  were  to  be  split 
up,  and  shattered  into  numerous  unconnected  puny  sove- 
reignties, which  could  not  fail  to  become  the  foul  and 
fruitful  sources  of  innumerable  intestine  broils.  Better, 
far  better  would  it  be  for  these  United  States  to  endure 
an  entire  century  of  foreign  war ;  or  to  labour  fifty  years 

*  Washington  and  Hamilton. 


214  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

under  the  burden  of  domestic  maladministration,  than 
by  severing  the  federal  Union  into  a  multitude  of  petty 
principalities,  to  entail  upon  all  the  extent  of  the  north- 
ern continent  of  America,  the  prevalence  of  foreign 
factions,  French,  Russian,  and  British,  perpetually  inter- 
fering with,  and  confounding  all  their  home  movements 
and  measures;  and  above  all,  to  ensure  a  perpetuity  of 
feudal  anarchy  and  brigandage;  of  castellated  feuds; 
of  partisan  warfare ;  of  hereditary  hostility ;  of  arbitrary 
incarceration ;  of  inquisitorial  torment ;  of  military  exe- 
cution ;  of  private  assassination ;  of  public  pillage ;  of 
universal  oppression,  and  all  the  calamities  incident  to 
afflicted  humanity,  when/orce  and  fraud  are  the  arbiters 
of  right  and  wrong. 

It  is  a  fact  which  should  never  be  forgotten,  that  the 
United  States,  during  the  period  of  eight  years,  under 
the  guidance  of  Washington's  administration,  were  raised 
from  the  lowest  point  of  national  depression,  penury, 
and  disgrace,  to  an  exalted  eminence  of  national  eleva- 
tion, riches,  and  honour.  The  public  credit,  which  had 
been  annihilated,  was  revived ;  private  confidence,  which 
had  been  extinguished,  was  renewed ;  commerce,  which 
had  long  languished  in  indolence  and  despair,  spread  its 
active  enterprise  over  the  whole  globe;  the  national 
debt,  which  had  been  considered  as  for  ever  sponged, 
and  the  public  creditors,  in  consequence,  defrauded,  was 
funded,  and  in  the  full  course  of  liquidation ;  a  well-ad- 
justed, and  a  growing  internal  revenue  was  collected, 
without  pressing  upon,  and  impeding  the  progress  of, 
productive  labour;  industry,  sobriety,  good  order,  mo- 
ral decency,  and  wealth,  were  substituted  in  the  room 
of  idleness,  intemperance,  tumult,  profligacy,  and  po- 
verty ;  peace  was  established,  and  maintained  effectually 
and  sincerely,  with  all  the  world ;  native  talents  and  vir- 
tue were  sought  for,  brought  forward,  and  raised  into 
high  official  authority  and  trust;  the  national  honour 
and  influence  were  sustained  at  home  by  a  strict  admi- 
nistration of  justice,  dealt  out  impartially  to  every  indi- 
vidual in  the  community ;  and  the  national  dignity  was 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  215 

upheld  abroad,  by  the  capacity,  wisdom,  and  courage  of 
its  diplomatic  representatives  in  foreign  courts. 

America  presented  to  the  eyes  of  all  other  nations,  a 
spectacle  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  human  spe- 
cies ;  an  infant  republic,  the  growth  of  yesterday,  out- 
stripping countries  white  with  the  hoar  of  unnumbered 
ages,  in  population,  wealth,  and  power;  in  arts,  and 
arms,  in  reputation,  authority,  and  influence ;  and  the 
elder  sovereigns  of  Europe,  the  great,  rival,  primary, 
contending  powers,  vied  with  each  other  in  professions 
of  esteem,  in  proffers  of  friendship,  in  the  wooings  of 
alliance,  to  the  new-born  dynasty  of  this  western  world. 

All  these  wonderful  achievements  of  national  good, 
were  the  results  of  only  eight  years  of  a  wise  and  prac- 
tical administration  of  the  federal  government. 

It  is  the  more  necessary  to  lay  the  foundations  of  go- 
vernment broad  and  deep,  since  every  new  government 
is  of  necessity  weak,  precisely  because  it  is  new.  Ge- 
neral Hamilton  was  so  well  aware  of  this  important 
truth,  that  he  laid  before  the  general  convention,  (as 
stated  in  the  preceding  pages)  in  the  year  1787,  a  much 
stronger  scheme  of  government  than  the  federal  consti- 
tution, which  was  ultimately  adopted.  But  Washing- 
ton's prudence,  or  timidity,  prevailed  over  the  intrepid 
sagacity  of  Hamilton ;  and  me  present  federal  Consti- 
tution was  established.  The  rejection  of  Hamilton's 
plan,  and  the  adoption  of  a  feebler  frame  of  national 
government,  is  the  more  to  be  regretted,  because  every 
new  government,  founded  on  principles  of  personal  and 
social  liberty,  must  be  feeble ;  and  stand  in  need  of  a 
very  firm  and  vigorous  administration ;  until  time  has 
rendered  its  authority  venerable,  and  fortified  its  power 
by  giving  it  an  opportunity  of  growing  up,  and  ming- 
ling^ with  the  feelings  and  habits  of  the  people. 

This  simple,  but  momentous  truth,  may  be  illustrated 
by  reference  to  the  history  of  Britain,  and  of  the  United 
States.  For  a  long  period  after  the  revolution  of  1688, 
which  placed  William  of  Orange  on  the  British  throne, 

1  ^5 

so  slender  was  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  England 
in  the  stability  and  credit  of  their  government,  that  the 


<2 1 6  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Chancellor  of  the  exchequer  of  that  day,  Montagu,  the 
father  of  public  credit  in  England,  could  not  raise  a  very 
small  sum,  by  way  of  loan,  without  taking  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  by  his  side,  as  the  guarantee  for  go- 
vernment j  and  going,  cap  in  hand,  from  house  to  house, 
and  from  shop  to  shop,  requesting  to  borrow  a  hundred 
pounds,  or  even  a  less  sum.  And  for  the  money,  thus 
laboriously  raised  in  small  parcels,  their  best  public  se- 
curities bore  an  interest  of  twelve  per  cent. ;  and  the 
paper  of  the  bank  of  England  was  at  a  discount  of 
twenty  per  cent.  Whereas,  for  a  period  of  twenty-five 
years,  at  the  close  of  the  18th  and  beginning  of  the  19th 
century,  the  British  government  was  enabled  to  raise 
loans  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  three  thousand  mil- 
lions of  dollars-)  at  an  average  of  less  than  five  per  cent, 
interest;  and  during  almost  all  those  years  she  main- 
ed  a  state  of  unexampled  warfare  with  nearly  the  whole 
of  continental  Europe,  arrayed  under  the  banners  of 
revolutionary  France. 

The  American  government,  about  forty  years  after 
the  establishment  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  during  the 
war  with  England,  commenced  in  1812,  and  closed  in 
1815,  could  not  raise  so  insignificant  a  sum  as  sixty  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  by  way  of  loan,  although  they  gave  in 
bonus  and  interest,  above  twenty  per  cent,  for  what  they 
borrowed.  The  paper  of  the  southern  banks  was  de- 
preciated atl  east  twenty-five  per  cent. ;  and  the  banks 
generally,  throughout  the  Union,  excepting  those  at 
Boston,  stopped  paying  specie  for  their  own  notes.  Be- 
fore two  years  of  the  war  were  expired,  the  administra- 
tion of  the  United  States  were  literally  bankrupted,  both 
in  men  and  money ;  no  one,  in  the  whole  community, 
would  lend  them  a  single  dollar ;  nor  would  a  single  in- 
dividual voluntarily  enrol  himself  in  their  armies,  so  that 
they  had  actually  prepared  statutes,  for  Congress  to 
pass,  enabling  them  to  raise  money  by  requisitions  and 
forced  loans,  and  to  levy  men  by  the  French  system  of 
conscription;  when  the  return  of  peace  arrested  these 
deathblows  to  all  the  popular  institutions  and  republi- 
can liberties  of  the  United  States  of  America-  A  me- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES- 


217 


tnorabic  practical  comment  this  upon  the  inherent  imbe- 
cility of  the  Federal  Constitution;  and  affording  a  na- 
tional tribute  of  honour  to  the  prophetic  sagacity  of 
Hamilton. 

The  power  of  a  government  must  always  depend 
upon  the  quantity  of  men  and  money  which  it  has  at  its 
own  disposal  ana  command ;  the  mass  or  surplus  capital 
floating  in  the  community,  and  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  the  wisdom,  and  their  ready  obedience  to  the 
directions,  of  their  rulers ;  and  not  on  the  extent  of  ter- 
ritory, or  the  huge  size  of  an  immense  population.  The 
empire  of  China  is  spread  over  a  vast  surface,  and  sup- 
posed to  contain  two  hundred  millions  of  people ;  and  yet 
so  little  disposable  force,  in  men  and  money,  has  the 
Chinese  government  at  command,  that  it  exercises  little 
or  no  influence  over  foreign  nations  ;  less,  indeed,  than 
is  exercised  by  Holland,  or  Sweden,  or  Portugal,  or  any 
other  of  the  smaller  third  and  fourth-rate  sovereigties 
of  Europe.  Now,  influence  over  other  potentates  is  the 
gauge  of  a  nation's  respectability  and  power;  in  like  man- 
ner as  the  influence  of  an  individual  over  the  interests, 
passions,  and  prejudices  of  his  fellow-citizens,  is  the 
measure  of  that  individual's  power. 

The  general  government  of  the  United  States  has 
too  little  disposable  force  at  command ;  it  has  neither  an 
army  nor  a  navy  sufficiently  numerous  and  extensive; 
its  public  revenue  is  too  scanty,  and  too  precarious;  and 
it  never  can  depend  upon  the  long-continued  support  of 
the  popular  favour  for  enabling  it  to  prosecute  any  per- 
manent measures  of  enlarged  and  liberal  policy.  Being 
altogether  a  representative  republic,  it  is  obliged  to  exist 
too  much  by  exciting  and  following  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  the  multitude ;  to  control  and  regulate 
which  is  the  bounden  duty  of  every  wise  and  upright 
government,  since  the  ignorance  and  violence  of  the 
multitude  have  an  invariable  tendency  to  defeat  the 
execution  of  every  intelligent  and  long-sighted  national 
scheme.  If  the  American  government  oppose  the  hasty 
clamours  of  a  misguided  populace,  the  officers  of  thar 
government  will  soon  be  converted,  by  dint  of  universal 

28 


218     )  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

suffrage,  into  private  citizens  ;  and  the  Union  is  of  course 
condemned  to  a  perpetual  oscillation  of  political  move- 
ments. 

It  is  not  in  the  ordinary  course  of  human  affairs  for 
such  a  state  of  things  to  be  permanent ;  and  it  is  to  be 
apprehended,  that  the  present  general  government  of 
tne  United  States  will  either  assume  a  new  form,  or 
(what  is  much  more  desirable,)  will  retain  its  name, 
but  gradually  become  more  stable  and  efficient,  by  fix- 
ing its  rule  upon  the  broad  and  firm  foundations  of  pro- 
perty and  talent ;  and,  by  progressively  augmenting  the 
power  of  the  executive,  enable  it  to  mould  the  feelings, 
habits,  and  manners  of  the  people  to  its  own  growth  in 
strength  and  influence ;  and  thus  render  the  national 
government  secure  at  home  and  respectable  abroad. 
Indeed,  in  all  popular  and  free  governments,  it  is  safer 
and  better  silently  and  gradually  to  devolve  upon  the 
executive  those  powers  which  experience  proves  it  ex- 
pedient to  lodge  there,  than  to  confer  upon  it  large  and 
extensive  authorities  by  written  law ;  because  that  go- 
vernment is  always  best  fitted  to  promote  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  of  a  nation,  which  has  gradually  grown 
up  with  and  fashioned  itself  according  to  the  feelings 
and  interests  of  the  people. 

The  experience  of  the  past,  in  the  history  of  nations, 
is  the  only  safe  guide  to  our  reasonings  upon  future 
events;  and  that  experience  seems  to  teach  us,  that  in 
process  of  time,  the  United  States  will  run  the  same  ca- 
reer as  other  sovereignties  have  run;  that  in  the  course 
of  necessity  and  experiment  they  will  gradually  disco- 
ver and  adopt  that  system  of  government,  (in  practice 
as  well  as  in  theory,)  which  is  best  suited  to  the  genius 
of  their  people,  and  best  calculated  to  wield  to  advan- 
tage their  great  and  growing  resources.  Their  Consti- 
tution may,  eventually,  be  shaped  in  accordance  with 
the  developement  of  all  those  great  and  shining  quali- 
ties and  faculties  which  go  to  the  formation  of  daring 
and  elevated  characters ;  and  which  call  into  existence 
tfie  exertions  of  legislative  wisdom,  and  the  achieve- 
ments of  heroic  valour; — all  emanating  from  a  system 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  219 

that  places  and  permanently  fixes  the  helm  of  govern- 
ment in  the  hands  of  the  men  of  talent  and  property,  as 
the  only  safe  and  legitimate  sources  and  guardians  of 
all  political  power. 

The  materials  for  making  a  great  and  powerful  na- 
tion are  all-abundant  in  the  United  States.  They  only 
wait  the  gradual  growth  of  an  energetic  government, 
and  its  administration  by  sagacious  and  active  statesmen. 
The  vast  extent  of  territory,  the  general  salubrity  of 
the  climate,  the  natural  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  variety 
of  its  productions ;  the  unparalleled  capabilities  of  the 
country  for  commerce,  owing  to  its  long  line  of  sea- 
coast,  its  numerous  harbours,  and  its  internal  navigation ; 
the  intelligence,  spirit,  intrepidity,  and  enterprise  of  the 
people  generally,  are  all  admirably  adapted  to  establish 
a  system  of  political  order  and  regulation,  which,  by  un- 
folding and  directing  to  the  pursuit  of  their  proper  ob- 
jects the  energies  of  the  people,  in  all  the  various  class- 
es of  the  community,  shall  render  America  a  high  and 
a  mighty  nation,  protecting  and  rendering  prosperous 
her  citizens  at  home,  and  claiming  and  enforcing  the 
respect  and  reverence  due  to  her  exalted  moral  and  po- 
litical rank  from  the  other  powers  of  the  world. 

The  tendency  of  the  general  government  to  acquire 
strength  at  the  expense  of  the  State  sovereignties,  was 
evident  during  all  its  different  administrations,  until  the 
course  of  policy  that  eventuated  in  the  late  war  began 
to  alarm  and  alienate  the  more  commercial  States. 
When  first  established,  the  general  government  was 
looked  upon  as  a  bond  of  union,  for  certain  specified 
purposes,  between  so  many  sovereign  independent 
States;  but  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  the 
separate  States  was,  by  degrees,  almost  lost  sight  of, 
and  the  government  which  had  been  collateral  came  to 
be  viewed  as  the  principal.  Men  of  talents,  from  all 
parts  of  the  Union,  turned  their  eyes  to  the  seat  of  the 
national  government  as  the  field  of  their  ambition,  until 
the  measures  of  that  government  reminded  the  separate 
States  of  their  individuality,  and  that  there  were  rights 
and  powers  which  they  had  not  surrendered.  The 


220  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

consequence  was,  that  the  State  governments  immedi- 
ately rose  in  importance,  and  the  State  legislatures, 
which  had  gradually  sunk  into  objects  of  derision,  re- 
ceived important  accessions  of  strength  in  men  of  ta- 
lents, who  withdrew  from  the  national  legislature,  to 
rally  round  their  native  States.  And  it  more  than 
once  happened,  during  the  late  war,  that  the  govern- 
ment of  a  single  State  placed  itself  across  the  path  of 
the  general  government,  and  arrested  its  movements  in 
that  quarter. 

The  leading  characteristics  of  the  political  and  legal 
institutions  of  the  United  States  at  present,  are — First. 
The  extreme  elevation  of  the  democracy  or  popular 
sovereignty  of  the  country,  and  the  corresponding  de- 
pression of  its  talent  and  property  in  the  scale  of  national 
influence.  Secondly.  The  want  of  permanency  in  official 
station,  arising  from  the  elective  nature  of  the  executive 
and  legislative,  and,  in  some  instances,  of  the  judicial 
departments,  and  the  rapid  changes  of  the  public  ser- 
vants. Thirdly.  The  very  general  diffusion  of  elemen- 
tary intelligence,  but  the  too  scanty  portion  of  very 
high  or  profound  acquisitions  throughout  the  communi- 
ty ;  whence  the  American  people,  individually,  are  more 
adroit,  more  skilful,  more  enterprising,  than  the  corres- 
ponding classes  of  society  in  Europe,  but  the  aggregate 
nation,  as  put  in  motion  and  directed  by  the  govern- 
ment, is  not  so  prompt  and  efficacious,  because  the  too 
frequent  mutations  of  office  prevent  the  possibility  of 
acquiring  sufficient  knowledge  and  power  to  enable  the 
government  to  put  in  requisition  and  call  forth  into  ac- 
tive and  long-continued  exertion  all  the  resources  of  the 
commonwealth :  whereas  in  Europe,  although  the  mass 
of  the  people  are,  individually,  less  intelligent  and  less 
enterprising  than  the  corresponding  population  of  the 
United  States,  yet,  in  consequence  of  the  greater  per- 
manency of  office,  the  larger  accumulation  of  family 
wealth,  the  more  comprehensive  education  of  the  libe- 
rally instructed,  and  the  stricter  obedience  and  subor- 
dination of  all  ranks  of  society,  the  government  is 
enabled  to  make  a  wider  display  and  a  more  protracted 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


221 


exhibition  of  national  power  and  strength,  than  it  is  pos- 
sible for  the  American  government  to  accomplish  under 
the  same  or  similar  circumstances. 

Nevertheless,  it  will  be  much  easier  for  the  Ame- 
rican government  to  become  as  powerful  and  efficacious 
as  those  of  Europe,  and  for  American  statesmen  to  ac- 
quire as  much  learning  and  political  information  as 
those  of  Europe,  than  for  the  European  population  to 
become  as  intelligent  and  enterprising  as  that  of  the 
United  States ;  and  all  the  world  knows,  that  a  power- 
ful and  active  population  is  the  great  and  effective  en- 
finery  by  which  a  statesman  is  enabled  to  aggrandize 
is  country — is  that  lever  of  Archimedes,  by  which  the 
universe  itself  is  moved. 

It  is  peculiarly  incumbent  on  the  people  of  this  con- 
tinually widening  country  to  examine  the  political  his- 
tory of  the  world,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  how  far  any 
nation,  ancient  or  modern,  has  approximated  in  its  so- 
cial institutions  towards  the  union  of  the  three  great 
requisites  of  a  good  government ;  that  is  to  say — First. 
The  personal  liberty  of  individuals.  Secondly.  A  strong 
and  permanent  power  always  at  the  disposal  of  the  ex- 
ecutive. Thirdly.  An  ample  developement  of  the  na- 
tional mind,  by  a  system  of  large  and  liberal  education. 
Such  an  inquiry  belongs,  emphatically,  to  the  pro- 
vince of  political  philosophy,  which  is  not  sufficiently 
studied  in  these  United  States.  In  the  most  splendid 
era  of  the  Athenian  government  the  people  were  suf- 
fered to  run  riot  into  turbulence  and  anarchy,  but  they 
enjoyed  no  real  liberty;  the  executive,  an  effective 
ephemeral  magistrate,  possessed  no  permanent,  no  ef- 
fectual power ;  the  national  mind,  indeed,  was  exhibited 
in  most  dazzling  magnificence,  and  has  left  imperishable 
monuments  of  strength,  elegance,  taste,  and  splendour, 
in  poetry,  the  fine  arts,  eloquence,  history,  and  philoso- 
phy, for  the  admiration  and  imitation  of  all  future  ages. 
Republican  Rome,  while  she  continued  aristocratic,  pre- 
served for  several  centuries  a  strong  disposable  power 
in  the  hands  of  her  executive  government,  which  mainly 
enabled  her  to  achieve  the  conquest  of  the  world  j  but 


222  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

she  did  not  allow  much  individual  liberty  to  the  people, 
nor  sufficiently  develope  the  national  mind,  except  for 
the  purposes  of  war  and  politics.  General  literature  and 
science  were  never  pushed  to  any  very  great  perfection 
under  the  Roman  government,  whether  consular  or  im- 
perial. As  soon  as  she  widened  into  a  democracy,  the 
whole  commonwealth  was  torn  to  pieces  by  the  fury  of 
contending  factions,  whose  party  violence  speedily 
paved  the  way  for  the  establishment  of  a  military  des- 
potism, that  hushed  into  dread  repose  alike  the  voice  of 
liberty  and  every  effusion  of  exalted  manly  intellect. 

In  these  United  States  the  personal  liberty  of  indivi- 
duals is  amply  secured,  both  by  the  several  constitu- 
tions and  by  the  laws  of  the  country,  in  its  federal  capa- 
city, and  in  its  State  sovereignties;  but  the  power  of 
the  executive  government  is  not  sufficiently  stable  or 
strong,  either  in  its  federal  head  or  in  its  State  supre- 
macies ;  nor  is  the  national  mind  sufficiently  unfolded, 
either  by  liberal  systems  of  public  education,  or  by  the 
discerning  patronage  of  a  munificent  government.  The 
British  government  is  prevented  from  uniting  in  itself 
all  the  three  requisites  of  excellence,  by  the  remains  of 
an  hereditary  feudal  aristocracy,  giving  to  a  few  over- 
grown families  too  much  habitual  influence  and  authori- 
ty, and  retarding  the  full  expansion  of  intellect  and 
power  in  the  middle  and  lower  orders  of  the  people.  It 
wants,  as  Lord  Chatham  said,  a  greater  infusion  of  life's 
blood  from  the  vigour  of  those  men  to  whom  Providence 
has  given  the  intrinsic  qualities  of  genius  and  courage, 
but  from  whom  he  has  withheld  the  factitious  advan- 
tages of  birth,  rank,  and  fortune. 

Lord  Hardwicke  undertakes  to  prove,  that,  although 
governments  ought  to  be  calculated  with  a  view  to  the 
infirmities  of  those  who  govern,  yet  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered, that  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  governed  should 
not  be  easy,  and  that  no  form  of  government  can  possi- 
bly be  long  continued,  unless  a  high  degree  of  confi- 
dence and  power  be  reposed  in  it.  Every  form  of  go- 
vernment, whether  monarchial,  or  aristocratic,  or  demo- 
cratic, is,  indeed,  liable  to  abuse,  but  ought  not,  there- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  223 

fore,  to  be  exposed  to  ruin.  Let  the  form  of  govern- 
ment be  ever  so  unrestrained,  let  it  be  a  complete  demo- 
cracy, yet  resistance  to  its  operations  ought  to  be  diffi- 
cult. For,  if  not,  men  might  be  inflamed  by  slight  faults, 
by  personal  affronts,  by  private  sufferings,  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  their  country,  and  involve  the  whole  commu- 
nity in  all  the  horrors  of  confusion,  violence,  and  blood. 
A  man's  fears  always  bear  proportion  to  his  hopes ;  and 
one  kind  of  passion,  or  weight  of  considerations,  is  ba- 
lanced by  another.  In  times  of  social  order,  and  an 
upright  administration  of  government,  the  laws  ought  to 
be  sufficiently  strong  to  deter  men,  moved  by  ambition 
or  resentment,  by  private  and  partial  affections,  from 
erecting  the  standard  of  resistance  and  revolt.  Nor  is 
it  to  be  apprehended,  that  in  a  free  country,  if  the  Con- 
stitution be  affected,  if  tyrannical  designs  be  openly 
avowed,  and  supported  by  injustice,  good  men  will  be 
deterred  from  eventually  resisting.  The  laws,  by  in- 
spiring caution,  however,  will  retard  resistance,  until  it 
be  fully  ripened  into  action;  so  as  to  facilitate  and  se- 
cure its  consequences;  but  in  such  a  juncture  of  affairs, 
when  men  are  roused  by  a  love  of  liberty,  order,  and 
the  common  good,  arguments  addressed  to  private  fears, 
will  not  be  able  to  weigh  down  the  force  of  public  af- 
fections. 

A  government  should  never  be  founded  upon  the  no- 
tion, that  those  who  are  entrusted  with  power,  are  of 
necessity  more  likely  to  abuse  their  authority  than  some 
of  the  particular  persons,  who  owe  it  allegiance,  are 
prone  to  endeavour  to  change  or  subvert  that  govern- 
ment. Such  a  notion  is  destructive  of  all  systems  of 
human  law ;  because  it  supposes  an  expediency  of  weak- 
ening those  strong  sanctions  which  have  been  employed 
in  every  civilized  country,  to  give  them  their  due  force 
and  operation.  The  checks  upon  government  should 
be  altogether  of  another  kind ;  they  should  consist  in 
keeping  the  balance  of  the  separate  departments  as 
even  as  possible ;  by  forming  every  estate  in  the  Con- 
stitution, the  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial,- a  com- 
plete control  upon  each  other.  But  it  is  the  extreme  of 


224 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


absurdity  and  danger  to  think  of  leaving  the  least 
strength  or  temptation  to  individuals,  to  resist  or  control 
the  government  itself. 

Such  a  notion  is  also  inconsistent  with  the  nature  of 
law,  in  two  other  points  of  view ;  first,  as  implying  an 
error  in  theory  ;  namely,  that  a  lawgiver,  when  framing 
a  scheme  of  government,  should  pay  as  much  attention 
to  its  possible  dissolution  as  to  its  necessary  support ;  and 
instead  of  securing  obedience  and  perpetuity  to  it,  by 
the  strongest  sanctions  which  wisdom  can  devise  or 
justice  will  admit,  ought  to  weaken  those  sanctions,  in 
order  to  provide  for  cases  which  are  out  of  his  reach, 
and  which  must  be  left  to  themselves;  because  their 
very  happening  implies  a  dissolution  of  both  law  and 
government.  Secondly.  As  such  a  notion  implies  an  er- 
ror mfact ;  namely,  that  a  law  for  punishment,  or  a  law 
for  indemnity,  can  operate  in  times  of  civil  disorder  and 
revolution,  as  in  times  of  peace  and  obedience ;  either 
to  create  terror  or  afford  protection.  It  implies,  that 
the  legislature  must  provide  for  cases  of  extreme  neces- 
sity and  dissolution ;  and  thus,  in  effect,  enlarge  the  right 
of  private  judgment  respecting  those  cases,  by  taking 
off  the  strongest  checks  to  private  resistance.  The 
laws  of  a  free  country  should  be  so  poised,  and  balanced, 
that  a  justifiable  and  national  resistance,  such  as  that  of 
England,  at  the  revolution  in  1688,  and  that  of  the 
United  States  in  the  revolution  of  1776,  should  not  be 
attended  with  too  much  difficulty  and  terror. 

Indeed,  generally  speaking,  when  those  who  are  en- 
trusted with  the  executive  power  have  abused  the  de- 
sign, or  exceeded  the  limits  of  their  trust,  a  weakness  in 
the  hands  of  government  follows,  which  disables  it  from 
exacting  the  legal  forfeitures  that  were  originally  esta- 
blished for  the  security  of  its  power.  The  experience 
of  all  history  proves,  that  very  little  protection  is  deri- 
ved from  the  operation  of  law  amidst  the  tumults  of 
civil  commotion ;  leges  inter  arma  silent.  When  the  trou- 
bles of  Greece  ceased  by  the  surrender  of  Athens  to 
the  Lacedemonian  arms,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Pe- 
lopponnesian  war,  the  thirty  tyrants  exercised  cruelties 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


225 


against  those  who  opposed  their  administration  of  go- 
vernment, unknown,  not  only  to  the  municipal  laws  of 
Athens,  but  to  those  laws,  which  cemented  the  general 
Union  of  the  Grecian  States.  In  Rome,  the  proscrip- 
tions of  Sylla,  and  of  the  second  triumvirate,  Augustus, 
Anthony,  and  Lepidus,  were  contrary  to  the  genius,  the 
ancient  policy,  and  all  the  legal  institutions  of  the  com- 
monwealth; although  well  accommodated  to  the  situa- 
tion and  interests  of  those  usurping  demagogues,  who 
had  risen  into  absolute  power  upon  the  ruins  of  the  re- 
public. In  Florence,  also,  the  banishment  and  entire 
extirpation  of  numerous  families,  were  the  frequent 
modes  of  proceeding,  during  the  troubles  which  so  per- 
petually snook  the  Italian  republics  in  the  middle  ages. 
And  in  revolutionary  France,  the  assassin's  knife,  and 
the  guillotine,  superseded  altogether  the  use  of  the 
French  municipal  code  and  of  the  law  of  nations ;  nay, 
even  of  the  law  of  nature  itself. 

All  these  violent  measures  were  resorted  to  in  parti- 
cular instances  of  civil  commotion  or  usurpation,  accord- 
ing as  one  or  another  faction  prevailed ;  but  were  not 
derived  from  any  permanent  law  of  policy  established 
in  the  respective  countries,  nor  grounded  upon  the  ac- 
customed legal  punishment  of  stated  crimes.  In  fact, 
no  correct  inference  can  be  drawn  from  the  accidental 
severities  of  civil  violence,  against  the  equal,  regular, 
and  peaceable  administration  of  justice. 

Nevertheless,  after  all  that  can  be  said  or  written 
upon  this  subject,  it  should  be  remembered,  that  the 
form  of  government,  like  every  other  created  thing, 
must  always  be  relative  ;  must  always  bear  a  close  rela- 
tion to  the  existing  circumstances  of  the  country  go- 
verned. In  every  free  country,  the  form  of  government 
must  always  be  the  result  of,  and  adapted  to,  the  feel- 
ings, affections,  and  habits  of  the  people ;  who  would 
soon  break  up  any  political  establishment  opposed  to 
.such  habits,  affections,  and  feelings;  and  therefore,  if 
an  hereditary  monarchy,  an  hereditary  aristocracy,  and 
an  hereditary  transmission  of  property,  have  been  found 
well  suited  to  the  feelings  and  habits  of  the  people  of 

29 


226  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

England ;  experience  has  fully  shown,  that  an  elective 
executive,  an  elective  Senate,  and  a  general  distribution 
of  property,  are  equally  well  suited  to  the  affections  and 
habits  of  the  people  01  the  United  States.  And  as  long 
as  those  habits  and  affections  shall  continue  to  be  repub- 
lican and  democratic,  will  the  government  continue  to 
be  a  representative  republic  ;  nor  would  it  be  other  than 
folly,  and  madness,  and  crime,  in  any  politician  to  wish 
it  different.  Where  are  the  materials  in  the  republican 
equality  of  the  United  States  to  be  found,  out  of  which 
may  be  composed  an  hereditary  sovereign,  an  hereditary 
house  of  peers,  the  vast  accumulation  of  entailed  pro- 
perty, throughout  a  series  of  ages;  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  national  church,  throughout  all  the  ranks 
and  gradations  of  a  well-compacted  hierarchy  ? 

Mr.  Jay,  late  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  in 
examining  the  question,  whether  or  not  an  American 
State  can  be  sued  in  the  federal  courts,  draws  with  great 
precision  the  broad  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
nature  and  jurisdiction  of  the  American  and  European 
governments.  This  venerable  statesman  and  incorrup- 
tible patriot  says,  that  "prior  to  the  revolution,  all  the 
country  now  possessed  by  the  United  States,  was  a  part 
of  the  dominions  belonging  to  the  British  Crown.  All 
the  land  in  this  country  was  then  held,  mediately  or 
immediately,  by  grants  from  that  crown ;  of  which  all 
the  American  people  were  subjects,  and  owed  allegiance 
to  the  King;  from  whom  flowed  all  the  civil  authority 
exercised  here.  They  were  fellow-subjects  and  one 
people;  who  at  the  revolution  in  1774,  appointed  their 
general  or  national  delegates  in  Congress.  The  decla- 
ration of  Independence,  in  1776,  found  the  American 
people,  throughout  all  the  colonies  or  provinces,  already 
united  for  general  purposes ;  and  at  the  same  time,  pro- 
viding for  their  more  domestic  concerns,  by  State  con- 
ventions and  other  temporary  arrangements. 

"  From  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  the  sovereignty  oi' 
the  United  States  passed  to  the  American  people  ;  and 
the  unappropriated  lands  belonging  to  that  crown,  passed 
not  to  the  people  of  the  colony,  or  State  within  whose 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  227 

limits  they  were  situated,  but  to  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States.  Thirteen  State  sovereignties  emerged 
from  the  principles  of  the  revolution,  combined  with 
local  convenience  and  considerations ;  but  the  people  still 
considered  themselves,  in  a  national  point  of  view,  as  one 
people;  and  managed  their  national  concerns  accord- 
ingly. Afterward,  in  the  hurry  of  war,  and  in  the 
warmth  of  mutual  confidence,  they  made  a  confederation 
of  the  States  the  basis  of  a  general  government;  and 
more  recently,  in  their  national  and  collective  capacity, 
the  people  established  the  present  Federal  Constitution ; 
in  establishing  which,  they  acted  as  sovereigns  of  the 
whole  country,  and  declared  that  the  State  governments 
and  Constitutions  should  be  bound  by,  and  conform  to, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Every  State 
Constitution  is  a  compact,  made  by  and  between  the 
citizens  of  a  State,  to  govern  themselves  in  a  certain 
manner ;  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  a 
compact,  made  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  to 
govern  themselves,  as  to  general  objects,  in  a  certain 
manner.  By  this  great  compact,  however,  many  pre- 
rogatives were  transferred  to  the  national  government : 
such  as  making  war  and  peace ;  contracting  alliances ; 
coining  money,  &c.  The  sovereignty  of  the  nation  be- 
ing in  the  people  of  the  nation,  and  the  residuary  sove- 
reignty of  each  State  being  in  the  people  of  each  State; 
a  comparison  of  these  sovereignties  with  those  of  Eu- 
rope may  show  whether  or  not  all  the  prerogatives  of 
European  sovereignty  are  essential  to  American  sove- 
reignty. 

"  The  sovereignties  in  Europe,  and  particularly  in 
England,  exist  on  feudal  principles,  which  consider  the 
prince  as  the  sovereign,  and  the  people  as  his  subjects, 
and  regard  his  person  as  the  object  of  allegiance,  and 
exclude  the  notion  of  his  being  on  an  equal  footing  with 
a  subject,  either  in  a  court  of  justice  or  elsewhere. 
The  feudal  system  contemplates  the  prince  as  the  foun- 
tain of  honour  and  authority,  from  whose  grace  and 
grant  flow  all  franchises,  immunities,  and  privileges  ; 
whence  such  a  sovereign  cannot  be  amenable  to  a  court 


228  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

of  justice,  nor  subjected  to  judicial  control  and  actual 
constraint.  It  was  of  necessity,  therefore,  that  suability 
became  incompatible  with  sovereignty.  Besides,  the 
prince,  having  all  the  executive  powers,  the  judgment  of 
the  court  would,  in  fact,  be  only  monitory,  not  manda- 
tory to  him ;  and  a  capacity  to  be  advised  is  quite  a 
distinct  thing  from  a  capacity  to  be  sued.  The  same 
feudal  notions  run  througn  all  their  jurisprudence,  and 
constantly  keep  in  view  the  broad  line  of  distinction  be- 
tween the  prince  and  the  subject.  But  no  such  ideas 
prevail  in  the  United  States.  At  the  revolution  the 
sovereignty  devolved  upon  the  American  people,  who  are 
truly  the  sovereigns  of  the  country,  but  they  are  sove- 
reigns without  subjects,  (unless  me  negro  slaves  are 
such)  and  have  none  to  govern  but  themselves ;  the 
citizens  of  America  are  all  equal  as  fellow-citizens,  and 
as  joint  tenants  in  the  national  sovereignty.  The  dif- 
ferences between  feudal  sovereignties  and  governments, 
founded  on  compacts,  create  a  difference  in  their  re- 
spective prerogatives.  Sovereignty  is  the  right  to  go- 
vern; and  a  nation  or  Slate  sovereign  is  the  person  or 
persons  in  whom  that  right  resides. 

"  In  Europe  the  sovereignty  is  in  the  prince ;  in  the 
United  States  it  rests  with  the  people;  there,  the  sove- 
reign actually  administers  the  government,  here,  never, 
in  a  single  instance ;  our  State  governors  are  only  the 
agents  of  the  people,  and,  at  most,  stand  in  the  same 
relation  to  their  sovereign  in  which  regents  in  Europe 
stand  to  their  sovereigns.  European  princes  have  per- 
sonal powers,  dignities,  and  pre-eminences,  but  Ameri- 
can rulers  have  only  official  privileges  and  rank,  nor  do 
they  partake  in  the  sovereignty  (whether  State  or  na- 
tional) otherwise,  or  in  any  other  capacity,  than  as  pri- 
vate citizens." 

To  these  observations  of  Mr.  Jay,  it  might  be  added, 
that  in  every  free  country  the  government  runs  a  course 
similar  to  that  of  the  common  law;  it  has  its  origin  in  the 
wants,  and  is  adapted  to  the  conveniences  and  views  of 
the  community ;  grows  with  its  growth,  and  embraces 
all  the  exigences  of  the  nation,  as  it  passes  through  its 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  229 

successive  stages  of  infancy,  "youth,  manhood,  and  age. 
As  the  government  of  a  country  is  formed  by,  so  it  ma- 
terially helps  to,  form  the  character  of  the  people,  by 
constant  action  and  reaction  upon  each  other.  It  is  a 
notorious  fact,  that  the  republican  polity  of  the  United 
States,  in  combination  with  some  other  circumstances, 
has  rendered  the  American  population  superior  to  that 
of  any  other  country,  ancient  or  modern.  A  vast  ex- 
tent of  territory,  averaging  a  fertile  soil,  and  a  favoura- 
ble climate;  a  comparatively  thin  population;  high 
wages  of  labour;  an  abundance  of  provisions ;  a  variety 
of  employments,  in  the  labours  of  agriculture,  the  pur- 
suits of  commerce,  the  sports  of  the  field  and  of  the 
forest,  all  conspire  to  give  physical  activity  and  strength 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States. 

The  general  diffusion  of  elementary  and  popular  in 
telligence  among  all  classes  of  society,  more  particularly 
in  New-England,  gives  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States  a  larger  average  of  mental  activity  and  power 
than  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  mass  of  the  people  in  most 
other  countries.  Indeed,  with  the  exception  of  Scot- 
land, Holland,  Sweden,  and  the  Protestant  Cantons  of 
Switzerland,  no  country,  save  America,  gives  to  its 
people  at  large  the  means  of  acquiring  the  rudiments 
of  education;  and  consequently  the  improvement  and 
expansion  of  the  general  intellect  of  the  nation  are  pre- 
vented. The  sovereignty  residing  in  the  people  ;  their 
political  equality  ;  their  stake  in  the  commonwealth,  by 
the  right  of  suffrage,  gives  to  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  a  greater  moral  elevation,  a  higher  consciousness 
of  self-importance,  respect,  and  dignity,  than  are  to  be 
found  in  the  people  of  any  other  country  under  the  ca- 
nopy of  Heaven. 

Whence,  in  the  prosecution  of  the  arts  of  peace, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad ;  in  agricultural  toil ;  in 
mechanical  skill ;  in  mercantile  enterprise,  the  Ameri- 
cans exhibit  an  aggregate  of  physical  strength,  activity, 
and  perservance ;  of  mental  quickness,  acuteness,  and 
comprehension ;  of  moral  energy,  loftiness,  and  power, 
surpassing  that  of  any  other  entire  nation.  And  in  the 


230  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

perils  of  warfare,  amidst  die  noise  and  fire,  and  smoke, 
and  carnage  of  the  battle,  whether  on  the  ocean  or  on  the 
land,  the  American  squadrons  do  by  no  means  yield  the 
palm  of  deliberate  valour,  accomplished  skill,  and  heroic 
patriotism,  to  the  embodied  legions  of  ancient  Greece 
and  Rome,  nor  to  the  well-appointed  hosts  of  the  great- 
est nations  of  modern  Europe.  There  must  be  much  of 
intrinsic,  radical  excellence  in  the  political  institutions  of 
a  country,  which  have  lent  their  efficient  aid  to  form  the 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  character  of  such  a  peo- 
ple as  are  now  spreading  themselves  over  the  vast  and 
various  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  daily  and 
hourly  reclaiming  the  waste  and  wilderness  from  the 
dominion  of  nature  to  the  cultivation  of  man.  Arid 
while  these  general  causes  continue  to  operate,  the 
people  of  the  United  States  will  continue  to  average  a 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  superiority  over  those 
of  every  other  nation;  and  so  long  may  they  well  con- 
tinue to  cherish  their  present  form  of  government  as  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  their  feelings,  their  affections,  their 
habits,  and  their  interests. 

It  is,  however,  quite  another  and  a  distinct  considera- 
tion, how  far  a  government,  based  altogether  in  demo- 
cracy, where  the  people,  either  immediately  or  mediate- 
ly; that  is  to  say,  immediately  in  their  own  persons,  or 
mediately  through  the  medium  of  electors  chosen  by 
themselves,  elect  all  their  rulers,  executive,  senatorial, 
and  representative  ;  how  far  such  a  government  would 
be  able  to  sustain  the  pressure  of  an  overgrown  popu- 
lation, elbowing  each  other  for  a  morsel  of  bread,  and 
greatly  deteriorated  in  their  physical,  intellectual,  and 
moral  qualities,  as  in  the  old  and  fully  peopled  coun- 
tries of  Europe.  At  this  hour,  the  United  States  do 
not  average  Jive  persons  to  a  square  mile ;  the  State  of 
New- York  gives  only  twenty  to  every  square  mile,  -and 
the  most  populous  State,  Connecticut,  not  more  than 
fifty ;  whereas,  in  England,  Ireland,  France,  and  the 
United  Netherlands,  the  average  is  two  hundred  souls  to 
each  square  mile.  And  it  becomes  a  serious  question 
for  the  American  statesman  to  ponder  whether  or  not 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


231 


the  present  form  and  system  of  government  will  beable 
to  restrain  and  keep  in  order  such  a  populace  as  now 
presses  upon  the  respective  rulers  in  Pans,  London,  and 
Dublin ;  and  whether  or  not  the  many  myriads,  who 
must  then  be  scantily  fed,  clothed,  lodged,  and  taught, 
will  be  apt,  by  dint  of  universal  suffrage,  to  pass  an 
Agrarian  law ;  or,  by  the  more  summary  mode  of  sud- 
den violence,  scatter  the  property  of  the  comparatively 
few  who  might  then  be  in  easy  circumstances  ? 

At  all  events,  such  a  state  of  things  opens  a  wide 
field  of  active  enterprise  to  ambitious  and  unprincipled 
demagogues,  inviting  them  to  put  into  riotous  motion  the 
great  mass  of  the  people ;  and  what  such  a  mass,  so  put 
in  motion,  can  do,  has  been  fully  shown  by  revolutionary 
France ;  the  effects  of  whose  anarchial  movements  are 
seen  all  over  Europe  at  this  moment,  and  will  never 
cease  to  be  felt,  in  every  nerve  and  artery  of  man's  so- 
cial state,  as  long  as  the  world  itself  endures.  What- 
ever other  political  lessons  the  French  revolution  might 
have  taught,  it  has  rendered  perfectly  intelligible  this 
truth ;  namely,  that  whenever  the  people  of  any  country 
choose  to  move  in  mass,  they  can  tear  up  from  its  foun- 
dations their  existing  government,  and  scatter  its  frag- 
ments to  the  winds  of  heaven ;  and  there  never  are 
wanting,  perhaps,  in  any  country,  (certainly  not  in  any 
country  whose  political  institutions  are  cast  in  a  popular 
mould,)  a  sufficient  number  of  daring  and  turbulent  spi- 
rits, who  eagerly  desire  so  to  stir  up  and  incite  the  popu- 
lace to  violence,  that  they  themselves  may  ride  aloft  in 
the  whirlwind,  and  direct  the  storm.  The  Emperor 
Alexander  seems  to  be  so  much  alive  to  this  sign  of  the 
times,  that  he  actually  appears  to  labour  to  play  the 
part  of  a  good  democrat  nimself. 

At  the  present  hour,  indeed,  no  such  danger  presses 
imminently  upon  the  United  States  ;  nor  will  it,  proba 
bly,  so  long  as  the  western  country  opens  such  an  im- 
mense extent  of  fertile  soil,  and  favourable  location, 
that  those  needy  and  desperate  adventurers,  whose 
'pernicious  habits  of  idleness  and  vice  render  them  alike 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

unable  and  unfit  to  live  in  a  state  of  orderly  and  well- 
regulated  society,  can  flock  thither,  and  evaporate,  in 
reclaiming  the  wilderness,  that  factious  violence,  and  dis- 
contented disposition,  which  would  be  much  more  de- 
structively employed  in  plundering  the  property  and 
cutting  the  throats  of  their  more  sober-minded  fellow- 
citizens.  M.  Talleyrand  was  greatly  surprised  to  find 
that  in  the  United  States,  some  few  years  after  the  close 
of  the  revolutionary  war,  the  ordinary  effects  of  a  revo- 
lution were  not  visible  in  the  condition  of  the  communi- 
ty ;  and  he  philosophizes  on  it  thus  :  every  change  lays 
tne  foundation  for  another,  says  Machiavelli ;  and,  in 
fact,  without  speaking  of  the  hatreds  which  they  perpe- 
tuate, and  of  the  motives  for  vengeance  which  they  leave 
in  the  minds  of  men,  revolutions  that  have  shaken  every 
thing,  and  in  which  the  whole  community  has  taken 
part,  create  a  general  restlessness  of  mind,  a  craving 
after  change,  an  indefinite  eagerness  for  hazardous  en- 
terprises, a  vague  and  turbulent  ambition,  whose  ten 
dencies  are  unceasingly  to  alter  and  destroy  every  thing 
that  is. 

This  is  more  emphatically  true,  when  the  revolution 
has  been  made  in  the  name  of  liberty  ; — a  free  govern- 
ment, says  Montesquieu ;  that  is,  one  always  agitated; 
and  it  being  impossible  to  stop  the  agitation,  it  must  be 
regulated  so  as  to  exercise  itself,  not  at  the  expense,  but 
for  the  promotion  of  the  public  happiness.  After  the 
crisis  of  revolutions,  there  are  always  many  men  worn 
out  and  made  old  under  the  impression  of  misfortune ; 
such  men  are  not  apt  to  love  their  country,  in  which 
they  have  experienced  nothing  but  misery;  and  their 
hatred  must  be  guarded  against,  and,  if  possible,  render- 
ed impotent.  Time  and  good  laws,  indeed,  will  do 
much  ;  but  establishments  and  outlets  for  such  danger- 
ous beings  are  necessary.  In  America,  after  a  revolu- 
tion, very  dissimilar  doubtless  to  that  of  France,  there 
remained  only  slight  traces  of  ancient  animosities ;  but 
little  agitation  and  inquietude;  few,  or  none,  of  those 
symptoms  which,  in  general,  threaten  every  moment  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  233 

tranquillity  of  States  newly  bursting  into  freedom.  One 

freat  cause  of  this  strange  appearance  deserves  consi- 
cration. 

No  doubt  the  American,  like  other  revolutions,  had 
left  in  the  minds  of  men  dispositions  to  excite  or  receive 
new  troubles ;  but  this  need  of  agitation  had  been  able 
to  find  a  different  satisfaction  in  a  vast  and  new  country, 
where  adventurous  projects  allure  the  mind ;  where 
immense  tracts  of  uncultivated  lands  give  men  a  facility 
of  employing  a  fresh  activity,  far  from  the  scene  of  their 
first  dissentions ;  of  placing  their  hopes  and  fears  in 
fresh  speculations  ;  of  plunging  themselves  at  once  into 
the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  new  schemes ;  of  amusing  them- 
selves by  frequent  change  of  place ;  and  eventually  ex- 
tinguishing, within  their  bosoms,  the  flame  of  the  revo- 
lutionary passions. 

This  very  facility,  however,  of  emigration  into  the 
western  country,  raises  another  very  important  question 
for  the  contemplation  of  the  American  statesman.  The 
direct  tendency  of  such  emigration  is  to  enable  the 
western  territory,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  to  out- 
number, both  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, the  Atlantic  States.  Which  being  done,  the 
Western  States,  as  great  inland  nations,  and  erroneously 
considering  that  the  commercial  policy  of  the  Atlantic 

I  J 

seaboard  is  opposed  to  their  agricultural  interests,  will 
be  apt  to  sacrifice  that  commercial  policy  to  their  own 
mistaken  views  of  territorial  aggrandizement.  Such  an 
alteration  in  the  system  of  government  would  be  most 
pernicious  to  New-England,  the  cradle  of  the  revolution, 
and  the  efficient  founder  of  American  independence. 
The  soil  of  New-England  does  not  raise  a  sufficient 

O 

quantity  of  provisions  to  maintain  a  crowded  population, 
but  its  long  line  of  sea  and  river  coast,  its  numerous 
harbours,  and  the  habitual  enterprise  of  its  people,  give 
it  a  commercial  capability,  certainly  never  surpassed,  if 
ever  equalled  by  any  other  nation.  Hence  Mr.  Picker- 
ing, one  of  the  most  enlightened  and  intrepid  of  her 
statesmen,  said,  in  reference  to  his  New-England  fellow- 
citizens,  that  their  farms  were  on  the  ocean. 

30 


234  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED 

Great  as  was  once  the  weight  of  New-England  in  the 
American  councils,  her  influence  of  late  has  been  borne 
down  by  the  preponderance  of  the  west.  New-Eng- 
land, including  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  New-Hamp- 
shire, Vermont,  Rhode-Island,  and  Connecticut,  covers 
only  a  surface  of  little  more  than  sixty  thousand  square 
miles,  and  contains  a  population  of  about  one  million 
and  a  half;  whereas,  the  western  country  already 
counts  a  greater  number  of  States — as  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Mississippi,  Indiana,  and  Louisiana,  which 

§ive  it  a  preponderance  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
tates; — in  addition  to  which  there  is  an  immense  ex- 
tent of  surplus  territory,  out  of  which  new  States  with- 
out number  may  be  carved  in  the  lapse  of  a  few  years. 
Its  population  already  reaches  between  two  and  three 
millions,  which  enables  it  to  vote  down  New-England  in 
the  House  of  Representatives ;  and  it  covers  a  surface 
of  more  than  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  square 
miles;  that  is  to  say,  more  than  fifteen  times  as  large  as 
the  British  Isles,  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  put 
together ;  and  average  a  fertile  soil,  admirably  adapted 
to  sustain  a  very  full  and  numerous  population ;  a  popu- 
lation abundantly  sufficient  to  outvote  not  only  the  New- 
England,  but  all  the  other  Atlantic  States;  all  the 
States  that  composed  the  old  Union  which  converted 
America  from  a  British  colony  into  an  independent 
empire. 

The  commercial  policy  is  necessary  to  the  very  exist- 
ence of  New-England,  whose  depopulation  must  follow 
as  an  inevitable  result  from  its  destruction  or  restriction ; 
and'its  tide  of  emigration  augments  the  numbers  and  re- 
sources of  that  western  country,  which  is  inclined  to 
strike  a  deathblow  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board. There  cannot  well  be  a  more  erroneous  politi- 
cal theory,  than  that  the  interests  of  agriculture  are  op- 
posed to  those  of  commerce,  and  conversely ;  for  the 
facts  and  proofs  that  merely  agricultural  nations  can 
never  become  either  prosperous  or  powerful,  and  that 
commerce  most  materially  forwards  the  improvement 
of  agriculture  itself,  and  of*  national  wealth  and  civiliza- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  235 

tion,  see  "  the  Resources  of  the  British  Empire,"  pp. 
383,398,487,  490.  If  the '  western  and  agricultural 
policy  should  prevail,  the  Atlantic  States  will  suffer,  in 
the  following  order;  New-England  most,  then  New- 
York,  New-Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  then 
Pennsylvania,  which  being  a  great  manufacturing  State, 
depends  less  upon  fo'reign  commerce;  then  Virginia, 
the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia,  which  are  great  plant- 
ing States,  their  staples  being  tobacco,  rice,  and 
cotton. 

The  tendency  of  all  this,  beyond  a  peradventure  is, 
either  to  break  up  the  Federal  Union,  and  entail  a  per- 
petuity of  anarchy  and  civil  broils  throughout  the  whole 
continent ;  or  to  crush  the  Atlantic  States  beneath  the 
enormous  hoofs  of  the  western  mammoth. 

If  however,  from  these,  or  from  any  other  causes,  the 
British  government  should  suppose,  that  the  United 
States  are  destitute  of  resources,  and  the  peeple  reluc- 
tant to  engage  in  a  new  war,  on  account  of  me  events 
of  the  recent  conflict,  it  is  egregiously  mistaken.  The 
resources,  territorial,  intellectual,  and  moral,  of  this 
country,  are  immense  and  various,  and  widening  on  all 
sides  with  inconceivable  rapidity;  and  the  settled  con- 
viction of  the  American  people,  arising  out  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  last  war  is,  that  they  are  decidedly 
superior  to  the  British ;  and  can  always  beat  them  man 
to  man,  ship  to  ship,  gun  to  gun,  bayonet  to  bayonet, 
both  on  the  flood,  and  in  the  field.  And  uncounted 
myriads  of  American  hearts  now  beat  high  and  quick, 
in  eager  aspirations  for  another  contest  with  Britain ;  a 
spirit  whicn  the  government  carefully  cherishes,  by 
newspaper  effusions,  by  public  toasts  and  orations,  by 
congressional  and  State  legislative  speeches  and  resolu- 
tions ;  the  great  objects  of  American  ambition  being  to 
annex  to  their  already  too  gigantic  dominion,  the  British 
North-American  colonies  on  the  continent,  and  the 
West-India  Islands ;  and  also  the  Spanish  colonies  bor- 
dering on  the  Southern  States. 

The  general  government,  indeed,  was  itself  broken 
down  during  the  last  war;  it  fled  at  Bladensburgh ; 


236  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

gave  up  Washington  to  the  flames  of  a  victorious  ene- 
my, and  were  unable  to  send  a  single  recruit  to  their 
skeleton  armies,  or  to  pour  a  single  stiver  into  their  ex- 
hausted treasury.  But  the  people  never  despaired  of 
the  republic;  they  always  showed  what  feats  of  heroism 
they  were  capable  of  performing,  when  directed  by 
competent  leaders;  at  Plattsburgh,  at  Baltimore,  at  New- 
Orleans,  they  rolled  back  the  tide  of  invasion,  and  de- 
monstrated the  fatal  folly  of  attempting  to  fix  a  hostile 
army  on  the  soil  of  America.  On  the  lakes,  and  on 
the  ocean,  the  American  stars  were  flying  above  the  red 
cross  flag  of  England  ;  the  American  ships  were  better 
built,  better  manned,  and  better  fought  than  those  of 
Britain ;  as  is  natural  to  suppose,  when  of  two  kindred 
nations,  equally  brave,  the  one  has  an  overgrown  navy  too 
large  for  its  population  and  resources;  while  the  other 
has  only  a  few  select  ships,  the  crews  of  which  are  all 
picked  men  and  skilful  seamen.  The  fashionable  po- 
pular logic  in  this  country  is,  "the  British  beat  the 
French,  both  by  sea  and  land,  the  Americans  beat  the 
British ;  and  therefore,  the  United  States  have  nothing 
to  fear  from  European  prowess;  certainly  not  from 
England,  if  she  conducts  her  future  wars  so  clumsily  as 
she  did  the  last." 

The  American  government  will  probably  never  again 
exhibit  such  a  spectacle  of  nerveless  impotence,  as  was 
displayed  during  the  last  war.  It  is  daily  and  hourly 
acquiring  fresh  strength ;  its  influence  over  the  United 
States  bank  will  give  it  the  command  of  the  national 
purse,  and  facilitate  the  raising  of  loans.  Its  military 
academies  throughout  the  Union  are  rendering  abun- 
dant the  materials  of  a  skilful,  well-disciplined,  well-ap- 
pointed regular  army;  its  dock-yards  and  arsenals  are 
well  supplied,  and  no  effort  or  expense  spared,  to  create 
a  powerful  navy,  consisting  of  first-rate  ships  of  the  line, 
large  frigates,  sloops,  steam  batteries,  &c.  besides  the 
fleets  on  the  lakes:  all  which,  manned  by  American 
sailors,  will  give  to  the  general  government  a  formida- 
ble influence,  both  in  peace  and  war,  with  the  greatest 
European  sovereignties.  The  American  rulers  have 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


237 


become  wiser  by  their  own  experience,  have  profited 
by  their  own  blunders,  have  extracted  strength  from  a 
sense  of  their  own  weakness.  They  are  not  likely 
again  to  plunge  into  a  war,  without  funds,  and  without 
men ;  they  are  now  preparing,  in  the  bosom  of  peace, 
the  means  of  future  conflict;  by  building  up  the  finan- 
ces of  the  country ;  by  planting  every  where  the  germs 
of  an  army :  by  sowing  those  teeth,  which  will  soon 
start  up  into  bands  of  armed  warriors ;  by  a  rapid  aug- 
mentation of  their  navy;  and  above  all,  by  attempting 
to  allay  the  animosities  of  party  spirit,  and  endeavouring 
to  direct  the  whole  national  mind  and  inclination  of  the 
United  States,  towards  their  aggrandizement  by  con- 
quest, alike  on  the  land  and  on  the  ocean ;  by  adding 
to  their  present  immense  empire,  the  continental  posses- 
sions of  Spain  and  England,  and  the  British  insular  do- 
mains in  the  West  Indies. 

The  federal  government,  to  be  sure,  is  radically  weak 
in  its  frame  and  composition ;  but  like  all  other  govern- 
ments, it  will  continually  increase  in  strength  the  longer 
it  lasts,  by  the  natural  tendency  of  power,  in  the  hands 
of  all  men,  whether  good  or  bad,  wise  or  foolish,  to 
augment  itself;  by  the  constant  growth  of  executive 
patronage,  and  of  public  expenditure;  by  the  latitude 
of  construction,  which  ambitious  ingenuity  may  fasten 
upon  the  words  and  letters  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  Whence  in  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
the  American  government  will  be  quite  strong  enough 
to  act  a  very  offensive  part  to  those  European  powers, 
who  vainly  natter  themselves  with  the  hope,  that  the 
United  States  are  in  themselves  impotent,  and  destitute 
of  those  resources,  which  are  requisite  to  give  a  country 
a  commanding  attitude  in  its  intercourse,  pacific  or  bel- 
ligerent, with  other  nations. 

The  great  question  now  at  issue  between  America  and 
Europe,  is,  which  of  the  two  shall  change  its  form  and 
system  of  government  ?  whether  Europe  shall  become 
more  democratic,  or  the  United  States  more  aristocratic  ? 
It  is  scarcely  credible  with  what  eagerness  the  presi- 
dential messages  are  read  in  every  European  court  and 


238  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UMTED  STATES. 

cabinet,  and  among  every  European  people.  Not  unx 
derstanding  the  nature,  if  they  know  the  existence,  of 
our  separate  State  sovereignties,  they  are  exceedingly 
surprised  to  find,  that  the  general  government  of  ten 
millions  of  people  is  carried  on  at  an  expenditure  of  less 
than  six  millions  sterling  a  year,  while  the  expenses  of 
their  own  governments  range  from  fifty  to  one  hundred 
millions  sterling  per  annum.  And,  as  every  very  expen- 
sive government  must  be  oppressive,  because  it  impedes 
the  progress  of  productive  industry,  and  perpetuates 
the  hopeless  poverty  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people, 
the  Europeans  are  naturally  led  to  desire  that  their  own 

Governments  might  approximate  to  that  of  the  United 
tales,  in  popular  liberty  and  in  moderation  of  expen- 
diture, while  the  American  rulers,  observing  that  the 
European  sovereigns  have  more  command  over  the  po- 
pulation and  resources  of  their  respective  countries  man 
they  can  exercise  over  those  of  the  Union,  as  naturally 
desire  to  build  up  into  more  extensive  and  permanent 
power  the  system  and  administration  of  the  Federal 


government. 

o 


The  probable  result  is,  that  the  governments  of  Ame- 
rica and  Europe  will  approximate  towards  each  other, 
in  fact,  although  in  name  they  may  still  remain  different; 
the  generality  of  mankind  being  governed  by  names, 
and  very  apt  to  be  shocked  and  roused  into  tumult  by 
their  sudden  change.  The  European  governments  ge- 
nerally, although  still  retaining  the  name  of  monarchies, 
will,  perhaps,  become  more  representative,  more  demo- 
cratic ;  while  the  government  of  America,  still  retaining 
the  name  of  a  republic,  will,  peradventure,  become 
more  aristocratic,  more  powerful  in  its  executive,  and 
more  permanent  in  its  Senate.  The  great  difficulty,  how- 
ever, will  be,  to  temper  the  strength  of  the  government 
with  the  personal  liberty  of  the  people ;  for  it  is  a  ge- 
neral rule,  with  as  few  exceptions  as  most  general  rules, 
that  the  freer  the  people  the  weaker  the  government, 
and  conversely;  the  danger  therefore  is,  lest  the  Ame- 
rican government,  in  strengthening  itself,  should  so  far 
restrain  the  liberties  of  the  people,  as  to  render  them  iu 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  239 

the  aggregate  less  excellent  than  they  now  are  in  phy- 
sical, intellectual,  and  moral  qualities. 

At  present  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in  showing  that 
the  resources  of  the  United  States  are  relatively  greater 
than  those  of  Britain.  The  British  government  spends 
one-third  of  the  whole  national  income  of  that  country. 
Before  the  close  of  the  war  with  France,  the  national 
income  of  Britain  amounted  to  four  hundred  millions 
sterling  per  annum;  the  peace  reduced  the  value  of 
lands,  houses,  and  all  other  productive  property  in  that 
country,  at  least  one  half,  besides  throwing  several 
thousand  families  out  of  all  employment.  The  govern- 
ment did  not  reduce  its  expenditure  in  the  same  pro- 
portion ;  it  spends  now  about  seventy  millions  sterling  a 
year,  while  the  national  income,  the  product  of  all  its 
nouses,  lands,  ships,  manufactures,  money,  and  every 
species  of  property,  is  not  more  than  two  hundred  milions 
sterling ;  that  is,  giving,  at  five  per  cent,  a  British  capi- 
tal, real  and  personal,  of  four  thousand  millions  sterling. 
Add  to  this,  the  British  national  debt  is  above  four 
thousand  five  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  of  which,  in- 
deed, the  Sinking  Fund  has  redeemed  about  one-third, 
or  one  thousand  five  hundred  millions  of  dollars ;  but 
that  does  not  lessen  the  annual  expenditure,  because  the 
government  continues  to  receive  the  dividends  of  all 
the  stock  redeemed,  which  dividends  are  provided  for 
by  taxes  taken  from  the  people,  the  government  having 
no  other  income  than  what  is  raised  by  taxation.  The 
outstanding  or  unfunded  debt  also  amounts  to  seventy 
millions  sterling,  and  the  deficit  of  revenue  now,  in  the 
season  of  universal  peace,  amounts  to  fifteen  millions 
sterling,  or  sixty-seven  millions  of  dollars ;  the  income 
this  year  being  fifty-two  millions  sterling,  and  the  ex- 
penditure upwards  of  sixty-seven  millions.  So  that, 
unless  the  British  government  can  either  diminish  their 
expenses  or  augment  their  revenue,  they  must  soon  be- 
come bankrupt;  for  the  nation  never  can  support  a 
much  longer  continuance  of  loans  in  time  of  peace ;  or, 
what  is  tantamount  to  loans,  the  issue  of  Exchequer 
bills,  which  swells  the  aggregate  of  the  unfunded  debt, 


240  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

And  there  is  the  less  prospect  of  Britain's  lightening 
her  load  of  debt,  on  account  of  Mr.  Vansittart  having, 
since  the  year  1813,  broken  the  progressive  force  of 
the  Sinking  Fund,  by  diverting  tne  dividends  of  the 
stock  redeemed  to  the  current  expenses  of  the  empire, 
instead  of  permitting  them  to  constitute  a  part  of  the 
income  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  which  was  the  essence  of 
Mr.  Pitt's  scheme  for  the  liquidation  of  the  debt.  The 
income  of  the  Sinking  Fund  this  year  is  under  fourteen 
millions  sterling  ;  if  Mr.  Vansittart  had  not  stopped  its 
progress,  it  would  have  been  upwards  of  twenty-four 
millions.  A  deficit  of  only  three  millions  sterling  was 
the  proximate  cause  of  those  revolutionary  movements 
which  put  the  French  monarchy  in  abeyance  during 
twenty-five  years. 

Besides,  the  British  Isles  have  no  elbow-room  for  the 
spreading  of  an  increased  population ;  they  contain  only 
one  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  or  six  hundred 
thousand,  acres  of  land,  on  which  twenty  millions  of 
people  are  crowded;  whereas  the  United  States  cover 
a  surface  of  more  than  two  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand square  miles,  or  one  thousand  six  hundred  millions 
of  acres,  over  which  are  thinly  scattered  a  population  of 
ten  millions.  The  whole  annual  expenditure  of  the 
United  States  is  not  more  than  one-eighth  of  the  national 

O 

income ;  say,  the  general  government  spends  about  six 
millions  sterling,  and  the  twenty  State  sovereignties 
about  four  millions  per  annum,  altogether,  making  a 
sum  total  of  ten  millions;  the  national  income,  arising 
from  the  lands,  houses,  ships,  manufacturers,  money, 
and  every  species  of  property,  may  be  estimated  at 
eighty  millions  sterling,  or  three  hundred  and  sixty  mil- 
lions of  dollars  ;  that  is,  giving,  at  five  per  cent,  a  pro- 
ductive real  and  personal  capital  of  sixteen  hundred 
millions  sterling,  or  seven  thousand  two  hundred  mil- 
lions of  dollars. 

The  national  debt  of  America  is  scarcely  one  hundred 
and  twenty  millions  of  dollars ;  to  set  off  against  which 
there  are,  at  least,  five  hundred  millions  of  acres  of 
public  lands ;  that  is  to  say,  lands  held  in  trust  by  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.  241 

general  government  for  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  applicable  to  the  liquidation  of  the  debt,  and  to  the 
current  demands  of  the  public  expenditure.  It  is  rating 
these  lands  much  below  their  real  value,  to  saj  they  are 
worth  a  thousand  millions  of  dollars.  These  lands  con- 
sist of  about  two  hundred  millions  of  acres,  ceded  bj  the 
different  States  to  the  United  States,  and  of  the  territo- 
ry of  Louisiana,  purchased  by  the  American  govern- 
ment; of  which,  all  the  land  not  previously  granted  out 
by  the  Crowns  of  France  and  Spain  belongs  to  the 
American  government,  as  trustee  for  the  American  peo- 
ple. For  it  is  a  first  principle  in  the  law  of  tenures,  that 
the  State,  or  sovereign,  whether  a  single  person,  as  in  a 
monarchy,  or  the  whole  people,  as  in  a  republic,  is  the 
only  original  source  of  titles,  and  possesses  a  sovereign 
right  to  grant  lands  to  whom  it  pleases.  The  prodi- 
gious extent  of  territory  yet  unoccupied,  but  fertile,  gives 
to  the  United  States  immense  resources  for  future 
growth  in  population  and  wealth ;  for  all  the  prosperity 
of  pacific  enterprise ;  for  all  the  comprehensive  energy 
and  perseverance  of  protracted  warfare.  So  that  there 
can  be  no  comparison  between  the  capabilities  and  re- 
sources of  any  other  country  and  those  of  the  United 
States,  provided  the  federal  Union  lasts,  and  increases 
in  strength  as  it  advances  in  age. 

The  probable  approximation  of  the  American  and 
European  governments,  towards  each  other,  in  effect,  if 
not  in  form,  is  intimately  connected  with  what  may  be 
called  the  revolutionary  question;  that  is  to  say,  the 
question  first  practically  started  by  the  United  States, 
in  their  revolt  from  the  mother  country,  and  pushed  to 
a  much  wider  extreme  by  France,  towards  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  The  United  States,  indeed, 
only  made  a  radical  change  in  the  form  of  their  govern- 
ment, by  converting  an  hereditary  monarchy  into  a  re- 
presentative republic.  They  still  retained,  substantially, 
the  laws,  the  religion,  and  the  morals  of  the  parent 
state ;  and,  from  time  to  time,  frame  and  modify  their 
municipal  system  according  to  the  exigency  of  existing 
circumstances.  But  revolutionary  France  suddenly  and 


242  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

violently  changed  every  thing;  changed  its  government, 
religion,  habits,  manners,  the  whole  frame  of  civil  poli- 
ty and  social  order;  nay,  the  very  language  itself,  giv- 
ing it  an  inflated,  bombastic,  fraudulent  character,  that 
unhappily  is  spreading  itself  all  over  Christendom,  and 
in  no  countries  more  rapidly  and  widely  than  in  these 
United  States  and  England.  Every  demagogue,  who 
breathes  mischief  and  ruin,  talks  loudly,  in  "newspapers, 
and  pamphlets,  and  club  speeches,  about  "  the  high 
destinies  of  liberty,"  "  the  liberal  spirit  of  the  age," 
"the  annihilation  of  all  prejudices  in  favour  of  religion, 
morality,  learning,  and  all  the  obsolete  usages  of  igno- 
rant antiquity  ;"  the  whole  of  which  means,  in  his 
mouth,  that  all  above  him,  whether  in  wealth,  talent, 
learning,  wisdom,  virtue,  or  character,  should  be  pulled 
down,  and  he  himself  exalted,  according  to  his  own  no- 
tions of  his  own  transcendental  merit. 

The  revolutionary  question,  as  understood  and  en- 
forced by  its  present  advocates  in  France,  Britain,  and 
America,  is  not  a  question  respecting  the  prevalence  of 
any  particular  religious  denomination,  whether  Papist  or 
Protestant,  Episcopalian  or  Presbyterian,  Independent  or 
Methodist ;  but  it  is  a  question  between  religion  and  no 
religion ;  a  flagitious  attempt  to  carry  on  government, 
and  social  and  domestic  life,  without  any  religion  of  any 
kind  whatsoever,  and  consequently  without  any  morals  ; 
revelation  being  the  basis  of  all  moral  obligation,  and 
every  system  of  morals,  not  so  based,  being  easily  redu- 
cible to  the  mere  calculations  of  political  expediency  and 
personal  convenience,  from  the  X^AOV  KM  otyetbov  of  A  ris- 
totle,  and  the  utile  et  honestum  of  Cicero,  down  to  Hume's 
scheme  of  utility,  or  Godwin's  plan  of  general  good ; 
good  so  very  general  as  to  destroy  all  individual  virtue 
and  happiness.  Nor  is  the  revolutionary  question  a 
question  as  to  the  relative  excellence  of  any  particular 
form  of  government,  whether  a  republic,  or  a  monarchy, 
or  an  aristocracy,  or  a  democracy,  or  an  imperial  auto- 
cracy be,  in  itself  preferable ;  but  it  is  an  assumption  of 
fact,  that  at  any  time,  ambitious  and  unprincipled  men 
may  labour  to  overset  the  existing  order  of  things,  un- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  243 

der  which  they  live,  whether  as  citizens  or  aliens,  in  the 
eager  hope  of  raising  themselves  to  turbulent  and 
bloody  distinction,  amidst  the  general  wreck  of  human 
society. 

In  a  word,  it  is  a  desperate  experiment,  to  be  made 
by  desperate,  needy,   profligate  adventurers,  of  every 
gradation  of  talent,  knowledge,  dulness,  and  ignorance, 
in  every  country,  particularly  in  every  free  country,  that 
religion,   government,  social  order,  private  pursuits,  all 
that  relates  to   man,  individually  or  as  connected  with 
his  fellows,  may  be  always  kept  afloat,  always  fluctuate 
in  a  revolutionary  state,  and   the  people  be  perpetually 
fermented  by  appeals   to  their  vanity,  and  folly,  and 
viler  passions  ;    that  ambitious    demagogues   may  lift 
themselves  up  to  power,  and  be  enabled  to  govern  by 
fraud  or  force,  by  the  bayonet  and  sword,  or  by  a  muz- 
zled and  perverted  press.     The  United  States,  although 
at  present   blessed  with    free   constitutions,  and  good 
codes  of  law,  are  yet  revolutionary,  and  contain  within 
them  the  seeds  of  those  sudden  changes  which  scatter 
upon  the  wings  of  ruin  all  the  labours  and  products  oi 
past  experience,  and  mock  the  hopes  of  all  human  ex- 
pectation.    France  is  still  eminently  revolutionary ;  her 
present  throne  is  placed  upon  the  crater  of  an  unextin- 
guished  volcano,   whose    eructations    of    smouldering 
smoke,  and  molten  stones,  and  burning  lava,  every  in- 
stant threaten  it  with  destruction.     Every  step,  that  re- 
ligion and  government  make,  is  made  upon  the  reeking 
ashes,  the  still  glowing  embers   of  revolutionary  fires ; 
those  fires  which  are  seen  in  fitful  and  portentous  blaze 
over  all  the  extent  of  continental  Europe.     And,  unhap- 
pily, neither  France  nor  the  rest  of  the  European  con- 
tinent, can  find  a  sufficient  counterpoise  to  the  revolu- 
tionary spirit,  in  their  own  governments,  which  do  not 
breathe  a  sufficient  air  of  freedom ;  nor  in  their  legal 
codes,  nor  in  the  diffusion  of  pure  religion,  and  sound 
morality,  throughout   their  dominions.     The  struggle, 
in  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  appears  to  be  fast  ripening 
into  a  conflict  between  indignant  despotism  and  lawless 
democracy;    the  collision  of   which  two  opposite  ex- 


244  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tremes  cannot  fail  to  shake  to  its  foundations  the  social 
fabric ;  and,  whichever  side  ultimately  prevails,  to  steep 
the  victor's  wreath  of  triumph  in  tears  and  blood. 

The  British  government,  indeed,  has  hitherto  stood 
forth  as  the  great  bulwark  of  social  order,  against  the 
ever-beating  tide  of  revolutionary  fury;  but,  labouring 
as  she  now  is  under  the  exhaustion  of  so  long  and  ter- 
rible a  conflict;  so  enormous  a  pressure  of  expenditure 
and  debt ;  so  alarming  a  diminution  of  her  agriculture, 
manufactures,  and  commerce ;  so  awful  an  increase  of 
pauperism,  in  all  the  classes  of  her  community ;  will  she 
be  able  long  to  maintain  the  proud,  but  melancholy  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  solitary  rock  of  social  safety,  amidst 
the  storms  and  tempests  of  the  agitated  ocean;  the  sole 
remaining  monument  of  stable  rule  amidst  the  ruins  of 
thrones,  and  principalities,  and  powers  ?  Even  in  the 
midst  of  her  own  home  dominions,  democracy  is  fast 
gaining  ground,  and  insisting  upon  its  scheme  of  revolu- 
tionary change ;  in  spite  of  her  hereditary  executivet 
her  hereditary  peers,  her  recent  orders  of  knighthood, 
her  nationally  established  hierarchy,  her  close  alliance 
between  Church  and  State. 

Meanwhile  her  child  and  rival,  America,  is  rapidly 
emerging  into  unparalleled  national  greatness ;  is  flam- 
ing upwards,  like  a  pyramid  of  fire;  so  that  all  the 
western  horizon  is  in  a  blaze  with  the  brightness  of  its 
ascending  glory.  Nor  is  the  ambition  of  America  less 
aspiring,  than  the  progress  of  her  power  is  alarming. 
Toe  United  States,  not  contented  with  their  present  ter- 
ritory, although  more  than  double  the  extent  of  the 
whoje  Chinese  empire,  lay  claim  to  both  the  Floridas, 
and  avowedly  stretch  their  pretensions  westward  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean ;  and  give  very  intelligible  hints,  through 
all  the  numberless  organ-pipes  of  their  followers,  and 
flatterers,  and  servants,  that  they  will  never  rest  from 
their  labours,  till  they  have  accomplished  their  aim,  by 
treaty,  or  encroachment,  or  conquest;  their  unvarying 
motto  being,  dofas,  an  virtus,  quis  in  hoste  requirat? 

Popular  governments  are  always  sufficiently  ambi- 
tious, warlike,  and  unresponsible ;  too  apt  to  encroach 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  245 

upon  their  neighbours ;  and  not  very  prudish  as  fo  the 
means  of  aggrandizement.  The  United  States  look 
wistfully  towards  the  British  provinces  on  our  North- 
American  continent;  and  the  unwise  act  of  Lord  Gren- 
ville,  passed  through  Parliament  in  the  year  1784,  per- 
mitting the  people  of  lower  Canada,  to  conduct  their 
pleadings,  and  promulgate  their  laws  in  the  French  lan- 
guage, has  prevented  them  from  ever  becoming  British  ; 
and  so  far  weakened  the  colony  as  an  outwork  of  the 
mother  country.  It  has  always  been  the  policy  of  able 
conquerors,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  incorporate  their  van- 
quished subjects  with  their  own  citizens,  by  giving  them 
their  own  language  and  laws,  and  not  suffering  them 
to  retain  those  of  their  pristine  dominion.  These  were 
among  the  most  efficient  means,  by  which  ancient  Rome 
built  up,  and  established  her  empire  over  the  whole 
world ;  and  these  were  the  most  efficient  aids,  by  which 
modern  France  spread  her  dominion  so  rapidly  over  the 
continent  of  Europe.  While  lower  Canada  continues 
to  be  French  in  language,  religion,  law,  habits,  and  man- 
ners, it  is  obvious  that  her  people  will  not  make  good 
British  subjects ;  and  Britain  may  most  assuredly  look 
to  the  speedy  loss  of  her  North-American  colonies,  un- 
less she  immediately  sets  about  the  establishment  of  an 
able  statesmanlike  government  there,  and  the  direction 
thitherward,  of  that  tide  of  emigration  from  her  own 
loins,  which  now  swells  the  strength  and  resources  of 
the  United  States.  Her  North-American  colonies  gone, 
her  West-India  Islands  will  soon  follow. 

Indeed,  it  is  now  well  understood,  that  if  the  Ameri- 
can government  had  been  long-sighted  and  wise,  the 
United  States  might  have  been  a  great  West  India  pow- 
er at  this  moment.  For  Britain,  during  her  late  conflict 
with  revolutionary  France,  offered  either  Cuba,  or  St. 
Domingo  to  this  country;  but  Mr.  Jefferson  suffered  his 
own  little  personal  feelings  towards  France,  and  against 
England,  to  prompt  him  to  decline  the  offer;  and  thus 
let  slip  an  opportunity  of  aggrandizing  the  United 
States,  which  may  never  again  occur,  under  such  favour- 
able circumstances.  The  dominion  of  either  of  those 


•246  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

great  Islands  would  have  considerably  augmented  the 
commerce,  and  increased  the  naval  armaments  of  Ame- 
rica ;  and  also  have  given  her  a  much  higher  importance 
in  the  scale  of  nations,  than  she  now  holds.  But,  diis 
aliter  visum  est ;  the  fears  and  hatreds  of  her  executive 
chief,  have  materially  delayed  the  career  of  America 
towards  the  summit  of  national  ascendency  and  great- 
ness. 

As  for  the  Spanish  colonies,  they  will  fall,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  to  the  superior  energy  and  enterprise  of  the 
United  States.  For  it  is  as  natural  for  indolence,  and 
ignorance,  and  procrastination,  to  yield  to  industry,  to 
intelligence,  and  activity,  as  it  is  for  the  tides  of  the 
ocean  to  follow  the  phases  of  the  moon.  It  is  superla- 
tively idle  to  suppose,  that  the  forlorn  and  beggarly  go- 
vernment of  Spain,  headed  by  a  patron  of  the  inquisi- 
tion, and  an  embroiderer  of  petticoats  for  the  Virgin 
Mary,  will  be  able  to  resist  the  constant  encroachments, 
or  the  direct  attacks  of  a  neighbour  so  enterprising,  in- 
telligent, alert,  dauntless,  and  persevering,  as  the  United 
States. 

Nor  let  England  ever  lay  the  flattering  unction  to  her 
soul,  that  it  is  possible  ever  to  make  America  her  friend. 
These  two  countries  will  never  cease  to  be  commercial 
rivals,  and  political  enemies,  until  one  or  the  other  falls. 
As  the  world  could  not  bear  two  suns,  nor  Persia  two 
Ikings,  so  the  day  is  fast  approaching  when  the  globe 
will  not  be  able  to  endure  the  existence  of  these  two 
mighty  maritime  empires.  The  maxim  of  delenda  est 
Carthago  never  found  more  cordial  advocates  in  the  Ro- 
man Senate  than  it  now  finds  as  applicable  to  Britain 
in  the  inmost  recesses  of  every  American  bosom.  But 
it  behooves  the  United  States  to  pause,  at  least  for  the 
present,  in  their  strides  towards  territorial  aggrandize- 
ment ;  for  it  is  understood  that  the  Treaty  of  Vienna^ 
which  is  now  the  basis  of  national  convention  law  in  Eu- 
rope, as  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia  was,  prior  to  the 
French  revolution,  stipulates,  that  if  one  European  na- 
tion has  any  domestic  quarrels,  either  with  its  colonies 
or  within  its  home  dominions,  the  high  contracting  par- 


RESOURCES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES,  247 

ties  do  not  interfere ;  but,  if  any  power  attacks  the  in- 
te  ;ral  empire  of  any  European  sovereignty,  the  parties 
to  the  Vienna  treaty  protect  it.  Hence,  Spain  and  her 
colonies  are  left  to  fight  out  their  mutual  battles,  as  they 
best  can ;  but  Portugal  is  forbidden  to  encroach  upon 
the  Spanish  domains  on  the  American  continent.  Un- 
less, indeed,  the  Holy  League,  which,  under  the  veil  of 
evangelical  union  between  the  contracting  powers,  seems 
to  look  towards  planting  the  Russian  nag  upon  the 
seven  towers  of  Constantinople,  should  break  in  upon 
and  derange  the  provisions  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 

If  such  be  the  stipulations  of  the  Vienna  pact,  the 
United  States  should  be  wary  in  their  attempts  on  the 
Floridas,  the  British  Northern  Provinces,  and  West 
India  islands,  lest  they  bring  all  Europe  upon  them  with 
her  numerous  and  well-disciplined  veteran  armies.  It  is 
the  business  of  the  American  government  to  wait,  and 
nourish  the  growing  resources  of  the  Union,  till  time  and 
circumstance  shall  dissolve  the  present  unparalleled  co- 
alition of  European  sovereigns,  and  then  gradually  bear 
down  all  possible  opposition  from  any  single  foe.  As 
the  disposable  force  of  every  country  must  be  always 
mainly  proportioned  to  the  compactness  of  its  population, 
it  is  self-evident,  that,  at  present,  the  United  States,  with 
only  ten  millions  of  inhabitants,  spread  over  a  territory 
of  two  millions  and  five  hundred  thousand  square  miles, 
cannot  be  very  powerful  for  the  purposes  of  offensive 
warfare;  a  circumstance,  probably,  which  the  states- 
men, who  framed  the  Federal  Constitution,  took  into 
their  consideration,  since  they  so  seem  to  have  moulded 
that  national  compact  as  not  to  give  the  general  govern- 
ment the  power  of  carrying  on  an  offensive  warfare. 

These  great  men,  doubtless,  desired  that  their  native 
country  might  possess  all  the  means  of  defence,  when 
assailed  by  an  invading  foe ;  and,  accordingly,  they  have 
made  the  most  admirable  provisions  in  the  Federal 
Constitution  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  all-important 
object.  Their  apparent  design  being,  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, to  preserve  the  United  States  free  from  the  cala- 
mities of  foreign  warfare,  and  incite  them  to  avail  them- 


248  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

selves  of  their  vast  physical  capacities,  and  to  accelerate 
the  growth  of  their  population  and  wealth,  in  order  that 
America,  at  no  distant  day,  might  be  able  to  rank  with 
the  first-rate  sovereignties  of  the  earth,  in  the  extent, 
permanency,  and  disposable  efficiency  of  her  national 
resources.  By  premature  efforts  to  aggrandize  them- 
selves by  conquest,  the  United  States  will  put  all  their 
present  advantages  in  jeopardy,  and  endanger  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Union,  by  the  preservation  of  which  they 
can  alone  hope  to  become  lastingly  prosperous  and 
great.  Let  them  remember  Franklin's  position,  that  by 

^3  *  f 

patience  and  perseverance  they  will  be  able  to  outgrow  all 
grievances,  all  difficulties,  and  all  resistance. 

^j 

is  Russia  now,  and  for  the  time  to  come,  deemed 
formidable  to  Europe  ?  Behold  another  and  a  greater 
Russia  here.  With  a  better  territory,  a  better  govern- 
ment, and  a  better  people,  America  is  ripening  fast  into 
a  substance,  an  attitude  of  power,  which  will  prove  far 
more  terrible  to  the  world  than  it  is  ever  possible  for 
the  warriors  of  the  Don  or  the  defenders  of  Moscow  to 
become.  Let  it  not,  for  a  moment,  be  imagined,  that 
I  seek  to  lean  upon  the  exalted  character,  or  to  detract 
from  the  well-tried  prowess  of  Britain!  Under  the 
blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  the  world  owes  to  her 
unrivalled  exertions,  to  her  vehement  and  sustained  for- 
titude, a  liberation  from  the  most  galling,  base,  profli- 
gate, and  cruel  bondage  that  ever  stained  the  annals  of 
the  human  race.  Braver  than  Britons  men  cannot  be. 
It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  do  more  than  affront  death 
with  cool,  collected,  steady,  unyielding  valour.  Is  it 
possible  for  them  that  are  born  of  women  to  display 
more  unbending,  more  triumphant  heroism,  than  was 
exhibited  by  the  British  on  the  field  of  Waterloo  and  in 
the  harbour  of  Algiers? 

But  it  is  meant  to  assert,  because  it  can  be  proved, 
that  the  United  States,  from  their  territorial  extent, 
their  local  situation,  their  political  institutions,  their  pe- 
culiar circumstances,  do  produce  a  greater  amount  of 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  enterprise,  and  force  in 
the  great  mass  of  their  people,  than  is  or  can  be  pro- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  249 

duced  in  the  aggregate  population  of  any  other  country. 
Indeed,  an  inquiry  into  the  condition  and  character  of 
the  English  people,  would  serve  as  the  best  basis  on 
which  to  build  the  investigation  of  the  characteristic 
qualities  of  the  American  population,  seeing  that  both 
nations  are  sprung  from  the  same  native  stock ;  speak 
the  same  language,  and  exercise  the  same  religion ;  are 
governed  by  similar  laws ;  exhibit  in  their  lives  and  de- 
portments similar  habits,  manners,  and  customs.  And 
if,  under  the  physical  and  moral  circumstances  of  Eng- 
land, her  comparatively  narrow  territory;  her  actually 
crowded  population;  her  continual  wars;  her  frequent 
internal  convulsions;  her  prodigious  national  expendi- 
ture ;  her  enormous  public  debt,  the  great  body  of  her 
people  have  been  progressively  improving,  physically,  in- 
tellectually, and  morally,  during  the  last  entire  century, 
and  are  now,  as  they  have  long  been,  decidedly  superior 
to  the  population  of  every  other  European  country;  a 
fortiori,  must  the  people  of  the  United  States,  during  the 
same  period,  have  been  bettered  in  all  their  qualities 
and  conditions,  by  the  progress  of  civilization  diffused 
among  a  comparatively  thin  population,  spread  over  a 
vast  and  various  soil ;  by  unfrequent  foreign  wars ;  by 
internal  peace;  by  a  small  national  expenditure;  by  a 
trifling  public  debt;  by  institutions,  political,  moral,  and 
religious,  which  give  the  freest  scope  to  personal  acti- 
vity and  individual  enterprise. 

A  late  minister  from  the  Court  of  St.  James,  near 
the  American  government,  Mr.  Jackson,  who  had  sur- 
veyed with  a  statesman's  eye,  every  court  and  every 
country,  every  cabinet  and  every  people  in  Europe, 
both  insular  and  continental,  told  me,  "  That  he  had 
passed  through  and  diligently  studied  the  States  of 
New-York  and  New-England ;  that  he  had  never  seen 
such  decided  materials  of  national  greatness,  as  their 
population  exhibited;  that  the  American  people  were 
right-minded,  strong-minded,  sound-minded,  and  high- 
minded."  And  in  all  the  soberness  of  solemn  truth,  the 
people  of  this  country  have  verified  the  prophetic  words 
of  the  departed  statesman;  they  have,  indeed,  fully 

32 


250  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

shown,  that  Englishmen  do  not  degenerate  in  the  soil  of 
America;  for  they  have  compelled  the  meteor-flag  of 
England,  which  had  waved  in  triumph  on  the  ocean  for 
a  thousand  years,  to  lower  its  ancient  ensign  beneath  the 
new-born  standard  of  her  child ;  they  have  driven  back 
from  before  their  hardy  yeomanry  the  conqueror  of 
France,  the  deliverers  of  Portugal,  the  liberators  of 
Spain,  the  emancipators  of  Europe ;  they  have  twined 
round  their  victorious  brows  wreaths  of  naval  and  of 
military  glory,  which  will  flourish  in  eternal  verdure,  long 
as  the  everlasting  hills  shall  rest  upon  their  foundations 
and  the  stars  of  Heaven  continue  to  shed  their  light. 

In  the  turmoil  of  battle,  and  in  the  pursuits  of  peace, 
the  Americans  effect  more  by  a  given  number  of  people 
than  the  population  of  any  other  country  can  effect.  At 
present,  indeed,  the  European  land  tactics  are  impracti- 
cable in  the  United  States;  huge  masses  of  cavalry,  nu- 
merous parks  of  artillery,  and  solid  columns  of  infantry 
cannot  act  in  a  country  overgrown  "with  trees,  and 
bushes,  and  underwood,  which  afford  means  and  shelter 
for  the  deadly  musketry  and  riflemen  of  America  to 
destroy  their  enemy  at  their  own  leisure — themselves 
unseen  and  inaccessible.  The  United  States  must  wait 
till  their  country  is  more  cleared  of  its  forests,  particu- 
larly on  their  borders,  before  they  can  exhibit  any  milita- 
ry conflicts  on  a  large  and  comprehensive  scale.  Mean- 
while the  ocean  is  open,  and  will,  ere  long,  have  its  wa- 
ters deeply  died  with  American  and  British  blood,  con- 
tending for  the  exclusive  dominion  of  that  element,  which 
is,  emphatically,  the  cradle  and  the  home  of  the  mari- 
ners of  both  nations. 

From  the  commencement  of  the  French  revolution, 
in  the  year  1789,  to  the  close  of  the  late  war  between 
America  and  England,  in  1815,  the  political  parties  in 
the  United  States  were  opposed  to  each  other  with  ex- 
ceeding bitterness.  Party  spirit  used  to  prevent  social 
intercourse  and  poison  domestic  peace.  The  tyranny 
of  faction  was  much  greater  in  this  country  than  it  ever 
lias  been  in  Britain,  where  it  neither  disturbs  the  har- 
mony of  families  nor  trenches  upon  the  decorum  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  251 

society,  either  among  the  leaders  or  followers  of  the 
two  great  contending  parties  which  divide,  agitate,  and 
govern  that  kingdom. — See  the  "  Resources  of  the  Bri- 
tish Empire,"  pp.  351 — 376,  for  the  facts  and  reasons 
to  prove,  that  no  free  government  can  be  carried  on  but 
by  the  agency  of  contending  parties ;  and  that  no  dan- 
ger is  to  be  apprehended  eitner  to  the  ministry  or  the 
people  from  the  prevalence  of  party  spirit.  Since  the 
peace  of  1815,  Mr.  Monroe's  tour,  aided  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  country  and  the  times,  has  consider- 
ably abated  the  acrimony  of  faction  in  the  United  States, 
and  democrats  and  federalists  now  dine  at  the  same 
table  without  any  fear  of  reciprocal  offence. 

Some  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  of  America,  parti- 
cularly Washington,  Hamilton,  and  Ames,  laboured  to 
convince  their  fellow-citizens  of  the  necessity  of  extin- 
guishing parties  in  our  popular  and  elective  government. 
President  Washington's  "  Farewell  Address"  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  General  Hamilton's  Essays 
in  the  Federalist,  and  Mr.  Fisher  Ames's  lucubrations 
scattered  over  all  his  works,  contain  most  forcible  and 
eloquent  arguments  against  the  mischiefs  of  faction. 
But,  after  all  that  can  be  said  or  written  on  the  subject, 
a  country  must  either  be  governed  by  the  bayonet,  and 
be  enslaved,  or  governed  by  party,  and  be  free.  Par- 
ties in  the  United  States  are,  substantially,  like  those  in 
England.  Two  great  rival  sections  of  the  people  con- 
tend with  each  other  for  the  exclusive  administration  of 
the  government,  not  because  they  think  themselves 
always  right,  and  their  opponents  always  wrong,  but 
because,  on  the  whole,  they  think  they  could  manage  the 
government  better  than  tneir  antagonists.  They  differ 
more  about  the  means  than  the  end;  they  both  wish  to 
exalt  their  country,  and  render  her  prosperous  at  home 
and  respectable  abroad,  however  they  may  disagree  as 
to  the  measures  by  which  this  common  object  can  be 
best  attained. 

Indeed  now,  the  federalists  and  democrats  do  not  dif- 
fer, even  as  to  the  means ;  they  both  wish  to  exalt  their 
country  by  the  same  means.  For  more  than  twenty 


252  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

years,  truly,  they  varied  most  essentially  in  their  notions 
respecting  the  best  mode  of  administering  the  govern- 
ment ;  the  democrats  denouncing  foreign  commerce,  fo- 
reign diplomacy,  internal  taxation,  a  national  bank,  a  re- 
gular army,  and  a  fighting  navy,  as  being  all  extremely 
anti-republican.  But  for  the  last  two  or  three  years, 
they  seem  to  have  outgrown  these  theories ;  and  to  have 
begun,  like  other  people,  to  take  experience  and  fact, 
as  the  best  foundation,  and  safest  guides  of  political 
economy. 

The  United  States  are  so  very  favourably  circum- 
stanced for  a  rapid  growth  in  wealth,  and  population, 
and  national  strength,  that  it  requires  only  me  exercise 
of  a  little  common  sense,  to  administer  the  home  govern- 
ment, and  permit  the  laws  and  institutions,  which  are 
generally  most  propitious  to  the  establishment  and  fur- 
therance of  popular  liberty,  to  take  their  due  course. 
It  requires,  however,  considerable  sagacity  and  prudence, 
so  to  conduct  our  foreign  affairs,  as  to  secure  tne  friend- 
ship and  respect  of  other  potentates.  But  there  is  no 
occasion  to  enter  into  any  detail  on  this  point;  seeing 
that  General  Washington  has  left  a  bright  example  of 
all  that  a  wise  and  upright  administration  of  govern- 
ment can  accomplish,  for  the  welfare  of  the  country; 
and  our  future  presidents  have  only  to  follow  faithfully 
in  his  foot-tracks,  in  order  to  ensure,  under  Providence^ 
the  internal  prosperity,  and  the  external  respectability 
of  America. 

In  one,  and  that  the  most  important  department  of 
foreign  policy,  namely,  diplomacy,  the  American  govern- 
ment under  all  its  administrations,  has  exhibited  great 
talents  and  skill.  In  the  United  States,  there  is  no  corps 
of  regularly  bred  statesmen,  as  in  Europe;  but  our 
politicians  generally,  and  more  especially  our  diploma- 
tists, are  taken  from  the  class  of  practising  lawyers,  who 
being  men  of  business,  shrewd  observers,  and  well  ac- 
quainted with  mankind,  have  always  been  a  match,  and 
often  an  overmatch,  for  the  European  ambassadors, 
and  plenipotentiaries,  who  have  been  systematically 
trained  in  the  routine  of  office,  amidst  all  the  forms  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  253 

devices  of  the  closet.  During  the  last  fifty  years,  Ame- 
rican diplomacy  has  signalized  itself  in  every  court  and 
cabinet  of  Europe ;  and  the  names  of  Jay,  Adams,  Mor- 
ris, King,  Jefferson,  Marshal,  Monroe,  Pinkney,  and  the 
Commissioners  at  Ghent,  will  deservedly  rank  as  high 
as  those  of  any  diplomatic  characters,  which  have  adorn- 
ed other  countries.  The  peace  concluded  with  Eng- 
land in  1783,  by  Mr.  Jay,  Mr.  Adams,  and  Dr.  Frank- 
lin, and  the  commercial  Treaty  made  with  England  in 
1794,  by  Mr.  Jay,  are  evidences  of  consummate  diplo- 
matic wisdom  and  skill.  A  very  slight  perusal  of  the 
American  State  papers,  lately  published  at  Boston,  will 
show  that  the  American  diplomatists,  invariably,  wield  a 
more  pointed  and  powerful  pen  than  their  European 
antagonists ;  that  they  press  their  arguments  with  more 
force,  place  them  in  a  greater  variety  of  lights,  and  de- 
feat, or  evade,  or  parry,  the  strokes  of  their  opponents 
with  more  adroitness,  and  effect.  The  Marquis  of 
Wellesley,  in  April  1815,  said  in  his  place  on  the  floor 
of  the  House  of  Lords,  when  discussing  the  negotiation 
between  the  United  States  and  Britain,  respecting  peace, 
44  that  the  American  commissioners  had  shown  the  most 
astonishing  superiority  over  the  British  during  the  whole 
of  the  correspondence.  The  noble  Earl  (Liverpool) 
opposite,  probably  felt  sore  at  this  observation ;  as  no 
doubt  the  British  papers  were  communicated  from  the 
common  fund  of  ministers,  in  England." 

The  American  commissioners  at  Ghent,  were  Mr. 
Gallatin,  late  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Treasury, 
and  now  Ambassador  to  France;  Mr.  John  Quincy 
Adams,  a  Massachusetts  lawyer;  formerly  minister  to 
the  courts  of  Berlin,  Petersburgh,  and  London,  now 
Secretary  of  State ;  Mr.  Bayard,  a  Delaware  lawyer, 
and  a  Senator  of  the  United  States ;  Mr.  Clay,  a  Ken- 
tucky lawyer,  and  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives in  Congress ;  and  Mr.  Jonathan  Russel,  formerly 
a  merchant  in  this  city. 

Considering  that  diplomacy  is  much  more  effectual  to 
permanently  aggrandize  a  nation  than  war  and  conquest, 
it  is  astonishing  that  so  few  governments,  in  the  history 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  the  world,  have  availed  themselves  of  its  aid.  Un- 
less we  admit  the  United  States  within  the  circle,  there 
are  only  three  nations,  that  have  successfully  seconded 
their  efforts  at  extension  and  power,  by  diplomatic  skill ; 
namely,  ancient  Rome,  modern  France,  and  Russia ; 
the  reasons  why  British  diplomacy  has  been  for  the  last 
five  hundred  years,  in  general,  so  deplorably  defective, 
are  detailed  at  length  in  "  the  Resources  of  the  British 
Empire,"  pp.  333,  344. 

Now,  the  only  sound  policy  of  every  nation  is  to  se- 
cure its  independence,  to  augment  its  power,  to  elevate 
its  rank.  Neither  of  these  three  great  objects  can  be 
pursued  singly,  they  are  inseparably  interwoven  with 
one  another.  The  national  independence  of  a  State,  can 
only  be  secured  by  an  unremitted  progression  in  positive 
power;  of  which  a  greater  relative  rank  is  the  neces- 
sary consequence,  it  is  as  much  the  duty  of  States,  as 
of  individuals,  constantly  to  use  all  honourable  means 
of  advancing  themselves  in  wealth,  character,  influence, 
authority,  and  power.  All  nations  begin  to  decline, 
from  the  moment  they  cease  to  rise.  J\bn  progedi  est 
regrcdi,  is  the  great  political  axiom  of  human  affairs. 
As  soon  as  a  man  ceases  to  improve  his  mind  by  obser- 
vation, study,  and  reflection,  his  intellect  begins  to  lose 
ground  in  acuteness,  strength,  splendour,  and  compre- 
hension. The  ambition,  avarice,  and  ignorance  01  in- 
dividuals, allow  to  nations  no  intervals  of  stationary 
quiet,  or  drowsy  security. 

In  modern  times,  however,  the  only  European  govern- 
ments, that  seem  to  have  acted  on  any  digested  system 
of  national  aggrandizement,  are  that  of  France,  since 
the  accession  of  Louis  the  1 4th,  in  1643;  and  that  of 
Russia,  since  the  commencement  of  Peter's  reign,  in 
1696.  These  two  great  monarchs  felt  the  internal 
strength,  and  appreciated  the  immense  natural  resources 
of  their  respective  empires.  Although  Louis  did  not 
in  his  own  person,  succeed  in  the  ultimate  object  of  ac-; 
quiring  a  universal  French  monarchy,  he  yet  fixed  the 
ascendency  of  France  over  the  other  European  powers 
on  a  broad  and  permanent  basis.  When  he  ascended 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED.STATE3. 

the  throne,  his  dominions  were  hemmed  in,  on  all  sides, 
by  powerful  neighbours.  The  house  of  Austria,  in  its 
two  great  branches,  swayed  the  sceptres  of  Germany 
and  Spain,  whose  territories  almost  surrounded  France; 
the  republic  of  Holland  completed  the  line  of  circumva- 
lation.  Nevertheless,  although,  during  the  last  thirty 
years  of  his  reign,  Louis  was  almost  incessantly  beaten 
by  the  allied  armies  of  Austria,  England,  and  Holland, 
he  contrived,  by  the  superior  skill  of  French  diplomacy, 
to  enlarge  his  own  hereditary  possessions,  by  consider- 
able acquisitions  from  Germany  ;  to  place  a  Bourbon  on 
the  throne  of  Spain,  to  shatter  Austria,  to  crush  Holland, 
to  cripple  England,  to  leave  France  so  intrinsically 
powerful,  as  to  enable  her,  under  the  augmented  im- 
pulses of  revolutionary  action,  to  be  an  overmatch  for 
the  other  powers  of  continental  Europe,  not  merely 
single-handed,  but  for  a  combination  of  them  all ;  so 
that,  in  1813, 1814,  and  1815,  about  a  century  after  the 
death  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  it  required  the  united 
strength,  in  its  full  exertion,  of  Russia,  Austria,  Prussia, 
Sweden,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  aided  by  the  fleets  and 
armies  of  England,  to  rescue  the  whole  European  con- 
tinent from  the  humiliation  of  French  oppression. 

Contrast  the  adroit  diplomacy  of  France  with  the 
most  miserable  negotiations  of  England,  at  the  peace  of 
Amiens.  So  low,  indeed,  had  England  fallen  under 
the  degrading  conditions  of  this  treaty ;  so  completely 
evaporated  was  that  spirit,  which,  under  the  auspices  of 
Maryborough,  had  renaered  her  the  arbitress  of  Europe; 
that  spirit  which,  under  the  presiding  mind  of  Chatham, 
had  smitten  both  branches  of  the  House  of  Bourbon, 
and  loosened  the  joints  of  the  loins  of  France  and  Spain ; 
that  the  Addington  administration,  actually  submitted 
to  the  mandate  of  Buonaparte,  and  indicted  Mr.  Peltier 
for  a  libel  against  Napoleon,  whom  he  represented  as  a 
ruffian,  an  upstart,  and  an  assassin.  It  was  high  time 
for  Messrs.  Addington  and  Company  to  obliterate  from 
the  memory  of  the  English  people,  and  to  raze  from  the 
records  of  history  all  mention  of  the  fields  of  Poictiers, 
Cressy,  and  Agincourt,  of  the  battles  of  Blenheim, 


256  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Ramillies,  and  Malplaquet ;  and  to  write  the  name, 
French  department,  upon  the  veteran  front  of  the  British 
empire. 

While  revolutionary  France  was  making  herself  com- 
plete mistress  of  the  south-west  half  of  continental  Eu- 
rope, another  power  of  equal  force  (as  subsequent 
events  proved,)  claimed  a  similar  dominion  over  the 
northern  and  estern  sections  of  that  district  of  the  globe. 
After  Austria  was  humbled,  Prussia  beaten  down,  the 
German  empire  broken  up,  Flanders,  Holland,  Switzer- 
land, and  Italy,  conquered  by  the  Gallic  armies,  the 
political  powers  and  military  forces  of  the  European 
continent  were  divided  between  the  governments  of 
France  and  Russia.  These  two  mighty  empires  touch- 
ed each  other  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1812;  Ber- 
lin, Vienna,  and  Constantinople,  were  only  three  milita- 
ry posts  in  the  line  of  their  imperial  demarcation.  A 
free  and  secure  communication  between  the  southern 
provinces  of  Russia,  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  was 
an  essential  part  of  the  system  of  policy  established  by 
the  first  Peter.  This  scheme  of  national  aggrandize- 
ment has  been  pursued  by  all  his  successors,  and  is  of 
such  importance  to  the  Russian  empire,  as  never  to  be 
abandoned  without  a  severe  struggle. 

Russia  covets  Candia,Negropont,  and  the  other  Greek 
Islands  in  the  Archipelago,  as  posts  that  might  com- 
mand the  communication  between  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  Mediterranean.  Oczakow  is  the  key  to  the  north- 
ern provinces  of  Turkey,  and  is  to  Constantinople  what 
the  Pyrenees  ought  always  to  be  to  Madrid.  That 
post  Russia  will  never  relinquish;  she  took  it  from  the 
Grand  Signior,  in  1737,  when  England  was  mediating 
in  favour  of  Turkey,  with  thirty-six  line  of  battle-ships. 
Russia  has  steadily,  and  successfully,  pursued  her 
scheme  of  national  aggrandizement,  since  the  accession 
of  Peter  the  First,  to  the  present  hour;  in  consequence 
of  which  she  now  possesses  a  territory  larger  than  all 
the  rest  of  Europe,  with  a  brave  and  hardy  population 
of  more  than  fifty  millions,  four-fifths  of  which  inhabit 
her  European  dominions.  She  has  recently  added  Po- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  257 

land,  as  an  outwork  to  her  empire ;  and,  in  a  few  years, 
probably  it  will  require  nearly  as  powerful  a  coalition  to 
stop  her  progress  to  universal  dominion  as  was  found 
necessary,  in  1813,  to  reduce  revolutionary  France 
within  reasonable  limits.  Indeed,  France,  and  Rus- 
sia, are  the  only  two  European  powers  who  sys- 
tematically act  upon  the  conviction,  that  skilful  ne- 
gotiation is  as  necessary  as  victory  in  war  to  augment 
and  consolidate  national  dominion.  The  Treaty  of 
Amiens  gave  more  power  and  influence  to  France  than 
she  could  have  acquired  by  ten  years  of  successful 
fighting. 

Nay,  ever  since  nations  have  fought  to  extend  their 
dominions,  their  progression  in  power  has  depended 
more  upon  the  ability  of  negotiators  and  peacemakers 
than  upon  the  talents  of  military  heroes.  Every  one 
knows  that  republican  Rome  augmented  and  consolida- 
ted all  her  military  conquests  by  the  consummate  skill 
of  her  diplomacy ;  her  whole  history,  during  the  first 
seven  hundred  years  of  her  national  existence,  was  little 
else  than  an  alternation  of  successful  wars,  improved  by 
dexterous  negotiation,  and  of  dexterous  negotiation 
preparing  the  way  for  successful  wars.  Peter  the  First, 
the  founder  of  Russian  greatness,  was  a  profound  politi- 
cian, as  well  as  an  able  soldier;  he  knew  that  to  con- 
quer in  war  was  not  enough;  that  not  to  be  con- 
quered, in  his  turn,  it  was  necessary  to  retain,  in  peace, 
such  posts  as  could  both  guarantee  the  possession  of 
his  own  dominions,  and  facilitate  the  acquisition  of 
further  territories.  Charles  the  Twelfth,  of  Sweden, 
conquered  Denmark  and  Poland ;  but  being  no  states- 
man, (only  a  mere  soldier,)  he  lived  long  enough, 
although  he  died  young,  to  lose  all  his  conquests,  and 
one-half  of  his  hereditary  dominions,  and  the  indepen- 
dence of  his  whole  kingdom,  which  has  been,  ever  since 
his  death,  in  1718,  under  the  control  of  Russia  or 
France. 

The  acquisition  of  Noteburg,  now  Schusselburgh,  of 
Nyeskantz,  now  Petersburgh,  and  of  the  islands  of  Re- 
i.  now  Cronstadt.  posts  of  no  consideration  to  the 

33 


258  RESOURCES  OF  TBE  UNITED  STATES. 

obtuser  vision  of  the  Swedish  hero,  has  secured  to  Rus- 
sia, for  ever,  the  dominion  of  the  North  of  Europe, 
which  is  still  more  extended  and  magnified  by  her  later 
acquisitions  in  Finland  and  Poland.  By  the  more  recent 
accessions  of  territory  in  the  Crimea,  and  Georgia,  and 
in  the  possession  of  Oczakow,  Constantinople,  Ispahan, 
and  Delhi,  the  capitals  of  Turkey,  Persia,  and  the 
Great  Mogul,  are  laid  open  to  the  arts  and  arms,  the 
legions  and  the  diplomatists  of  Russia. 

The  war,  carried  on  by  the  Grand  Alliance,  made 
in  1686,  between  Germany,  Britain,  and  Holland,  against 
France,  was  one  continued  series  of  victory  for  twenty- 
seven  years ;  and  yet,  owing  to  the  unskilful  diplomacy 
of  England,  the  peace  of  Utrecht  and  Radstadt,  in 
1713-14,  ruined  the  house  of  Austria,  the  principal 
party  in  the  alliance,  subjugated  Holland,  laid  all  Ger- 
many open  to  the  inroads  of  France,  placed  a  French 
monarch  upon  the  Spanish  throne,  and  annihilated  the 
influence  of  Britain  upon  the  continent  of  Europe.  The 
maritime  war,  carried  on  by  Britain  against  France, 
from  1759  to  1763,  was  a  train  of  conquests,  as  was  also 
her  land- war  in  the  North- American  colonies,  during 
the  same  period.  Yet  the  British  were  so  far  out-ma- 
noeuvred by  the  French  negotiators,  that  the  peace  of 
1763  laid  the  foundation  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  by  which 
England  was  shorn  of  half  her  physical  strength,  and 
all  ner  national  honour. 

Had  the  British  diplomatists  at  Utrecht  secured,  as 
was  then  easily  to  be  done,  an  independent  monarchy 
in  Spain,  and  given  to  the  United  Provinces  of  Holland, 
(what,  in  fact,  they  did  a  century  after,  by  the  Treaty 
of  Paris,  in  1814,)  a  territorial  basis,  made  by  a  perma- 
nent incorporation  of  all  the  Low  Countries,  then  the 
Spanish  Netherlands,  with  the  existing  Dutch  domi- 
nions, the  independence  of  continental  Europe  probably 
would  not  have  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  revolutionary 
France.  And,  if  Britain,  at  the  peace  of  1763,  had  re- 
tained her  conquests,  made  in  the  preceding  war,  she 
might  not  have  been  compelled  to  sign  away  half  her 
empire,  by  the  treaty  of  1783;  and,  still  less  to  ac- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  259 

knowledge  the  paramount  superiority  of  regicide  France, 
by  the  peace  of  Amiens,  in  1802. 

One  of  the  most  triumphant  issues  of  French  diplo- 
macy, which  has  already  given  rise  to  one  war  between 
the  United  States  and  England,  and  will  probably  ere 
long  breed  occasion  for  another  conflict  between  these 
two  kindred  nations,  was  the  originating  and  establish- 
ing the  doctrine  of  the  "  armed  neutrality ;"  a  doctrine 
which  gradually  grew  from  sufficiently  large  beginnings 
into  the  three  sweeping  propositions  which  Buonaparte, 
as  the  French  revolutionary  chief,  and  Mr.  Madison,  as 
our  American  President,  laboured  to  compel  England 
to  receive  as  an  improvement  in  the  system  of  interna- 
tional law.  These  propositions  are — First.  Free  ships 
make  free  goods.  Second.  The  flag  protects  the  crew. 
Third.  No  blockade  is  legal  unless  a  place  be  invested 
both  by  sea  and  land. 

This  interpolation  of  national  law  has  no  other  ob- 
ject in  view  than  the  destruction  of  the  British  maritime 
power.  If  ever  acceded  to,  it  will  merge  all  bellige- 
rent rights  in  neutral  pretensions.  France,  as  a  great 
land  power,  wants  to  annihilate  England  on  the  ocean; 
she  has  never  been  able  to  accomplish  this  purpose  by 
fair  fighting,  in  open  and  honourable  warfare ;  she, 
therefore,  seeks  to  effect  her  object  by  a  war  in  dis- 
guise, which  she  calls  neutrality ;  a  "name  that  these 
United  States  readily  adopted  under  the  auspices  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  Mr.  Madison,  in  order  to  further  their 
own  peculiar  views  against  Britain,  as  well  as  to  second 
the  designs  of  revolutionary  France.  A  most  unwise 
act  on  the  part  of  America,  because  she  is  ripening  fast 
into  a  first-rate  naval  power,  and  is  therefore  deeply  in- 
terested in  maintaining  belligerent  maritime  rights.  Ex- 
amine for  a  moment  the  practical  effect  of  these  three 
neutral  propositions.  Britain  and  France  are  at  war 
with  each  other;  America  remains  neutral:  the  United 
States  carry  on  all  the  trade  of  France,  both  foreign 
•and  coasting,  in  American  vessels,  -under  the  eyes  of 
the  English  cruisers,  who  have  no  power  to  annoy  the 
trade  of  their  enemy,  because  free  ships  make  free  goods. 


2gO  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  United  States  carry  a  body  of  French  troops  irom 
the  coast  of  France  for  the  invasion  of  Ireland,  and  the 
British  cruisers  must  not  touch  these  precious  transports, 
becauge  the  flag  protects  all  it  covers.  The  United 
States  carry  provisions  to  a  French  West-India  Island, 
which  a  British  squadron  is  besieging;  and,  of  course, 
the  impartial  neutral  cannot  be  molested,  because  no 
place  is  blockaded,  unless  it  be  invested  with  an  ade- 
quate force,  both  by  sea  and  land. 

No  doubt  this  doctrine  is  in  good  odour  at  the  courts 
of  America  and  France,  because  it  gives  the  united  ad- 
vantages of  war  and  peace  to  France;  and  to  America, 
all  the  benefits  of  a  war  against  England,  without  either 
its  expense  or  danger,  while  it  delivers  up  the  naval 
power,  the  commerce,  and  the  national  existence  of  the 
British  empire,  an  unresisting  and  helpless  victim  to 
the  combined  force  and  fraud  of  the  United  States  and 
France. 

The  origin  and  nature  of  the  first  northern  armed 
neutrality  were  forged  in  the  diplomatic  arsenals  of 
Paris,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  arming  the  navies  of 
Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Holland,  as  a  check  upon  the 
naval  operations  of  England,  and  partly  to  prevent  a 
confederacy  between  Russia  and  Britain.  The  imbe- 
cility exhibited  by  England,  in  the  war  that  ended  in 
the  truce  of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  in  1748,  encouraged 
France  to  form  the  project  of  expelling  the  British  from 
North  America  and  the  East  Indies;  to  facilitate  the 
accomplishment  of  which  objects  she  endeavoured  to 
prevent  the  co-operation  of  a  Russian  fleet  with  the 
English  navy.  Accordingly,  in  1754,  the  French  go- 
vernment proposed  to  Sweden  and  Denmark  an  armed 
naval  convention,  to  protect  the  trade  of  the  maritime 
States,  and  maintain  the  liberty  of  the  Baltic.  Little 
notice  was  taken  of  this  proposal  by  Denmark  and  Swe- 
den, until  the  events  of  the  war  seemed  to  promise  suc- 
cess to  France;  when,  in  1758,  in  hope  of  gaining  a 
share  of  whatever  commerce  or  naval  influence  England 
might  lose,  they  entered  into  such  a  convention,  under 
the  sanction  of  France  and  Prussia.  But  the  exploits 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  261 

of  the  British  navy,  in  1759,  and  the  succeeding  cam- 
paigns, together  with  the  brilliant  success  of  the  arms 
of  old  England  and  New  England  against  the  French 
North  American  colonies,  disconcerted  the  measures, 
and  suspended  the  effects  of  this  armed  neutrality. 

The  next  disquisition  on  the  mercantile  rights  of  neu- 
tral states  was  brought  forward  by  Britain  herself,  on 
some  Silesian  linen,  which  her  cruisers  had  captured. 
'The  whole  doctrine  of  neutral  claims  was  fully  and  ably 
argued  by  Lord  Mansfield,  Sir  Dudly  Ryder,  and  Mr. 
Lee,  on  the  part  of  the  British  government,  in  answer 
to  the  Prussian  manifesto,  delivered  in  1759,  by  order 
of  Frederic  the  Second.  The  British  High  Court  of 
Admiralty  condemned  this  Prussian  linen,  as  contraband 
of  war,  because  it  was  captured  on  its  way  to  France, 
for  the  supply  of  her  naval  canvass.  Yet,  notwithstand- 
ing the  very  elaborate  and  able  report  of  the  English 
crown  lawyers,  the  British  government  finally  paid 
Frederic  for  his  cloth,  and  thus  created  a  precedent, 
upon  which  were  afterward  founded  the  avowed  preten- 
sions of  the  armed  neutrality  in  1780.  England  having, 
at  the  peace  of  1763,  given  up  to  France  nearly  all  her 
dearly  acquired  sources  of  maritime  trade,  and  those 
strong  holds  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America, 
which  would  for  ever  have  secured  her  naval  superi- 
ority ;  the  French  government,  as  might  be  expected, 
soon  renewed  its  former  project  of  confining  the  British 
empire  to  the  Island  of  Great-Britain. 

France  at  that  time  possessed  but  little  influence  in 
the  Russian  Cabinet,  and  being  still  apprehensive  of  an 
alliance  between  England  and  Russia,  in  order  to  raise 
some  misunderstanding  between  the  two  powers,  she 
fawned  upon  the  Empress  Catharine,  intrigued  with  her 
favourites,  and  caressed  the  ladies  of  her  court.  The 
French  also  wrote  verses  and  sung  ballads  upon  the 
heroism  and  legislation  of  Frederic  of  Prussia,  and  the 
patriotism  and  maternal  affection  of  Juliana,  Queen  of 
Denmark;  they  likewise,  from  1772  to  1778,  gave  the 
King  of  Sweden  large  sums  of  money  to  build  his  de- 
cayed navy ;  all  which  was  done,  as  they  said,  to  secure 


262  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

for  continental  Europe  "  the  liberty  of  the  seas"  The 
unsuccessful  campaigns  of  England  in  the  United  States, 
in  1778  and  1779,  the  accession  of  Spain  and  Holland 
to  the  American  cause,  together  with  the  retreat  of  the 
British  fleet,  even  in  her  own  home  seas,  from  before 
the  French  squadron,  under  d'Orviliers,  seemed  again 
to  crown  the  intrigue  and  perfidy  of  France  with  cer- 
tainty of  success.  All  the  governments  of  Europe  were 
then  convinced  that  Britain  had  lost  America,  and  they 
concluded,  that  her  expulsion  from  the  East  Indies 
would  be  the  speedy  consequence.  The  entire  ruin  of 
the  British  nation  was  deemed  to  be  certainly  approach- 
ing, and  the  parcelling  out  of  the  spoils  of  her  empire, 
became  the  subject  of  general  discussion  among  the 
several  powers  of  continental  Europe. 

.  The  famous  convention  of  armed  neutrality  was,  there- 
fore, drawn  up  and  published  ;  and,  in  1780,  acceded  to 
by  all  the  maritime  states  ;  even  by  Turkey  and  Russia, 
together  with  Prussia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  France, 
Spain,  and  Holland;  and  in  1781  was  acceded  to  by  the 
United  States.  The  Count  de  Florida  Blanca,  then 
premier  of  Spain,  at  the  instigation  of  France,  detained 
all  neutral  vessels  in  the  Straits,  under  pretence  of  the 
blockade  of  Gibraltar,  and  answered  to  the  complaints 
of  the  neutral  Ministers  at  Madrid,  that  if  their  sove- 
reigns would  resist  the  similar  claims  of  England  such 
pretensions  would  be  relinquished  by  Spain.  The  doc- 
trine of  blockade,  however,  was  not,  at  that  time,  pushed 
to  the  extent  for  which  the  French  and  American  go- 
vernments afterward  contended ;  namely,  that  to  con- 
stitute a  legal  blockade  a  place  must  be  invested  with 
an  adequate  force,  both  by  sea  and  land,  for  the  only 
thing  required  by  the  armed  convention  of  1780,  to 
constitute  a  blockaded  port,  was,  that  there  should  ac- 
tually be  a  number  of  enemy  ships  stationed  near 
enough  to  make  an  entry  evidently  dangerous;  and  the 
definition  in  the  ordinance  of  our  American  Congress, 
in  1781,  is  to  the  same  effect.  And,  in  the  convention 
of  the  Baltic  powers,  in  1800,  signed  by  Russia, 
Sweden,  and  Denmark,  the  definition  of  blockade  is 


.RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  263 

«  where  the  disposition  and  number  of  ships  shall  be 
such  as  to  render  it  apparently  hazardous  to  enter." 
This  same  definition  was  incorporated  into  the  conven- 
tion between  England  and  Russia,  in  1801  ;  and  the 
principle  of  that  treaty  has  been  recognised  in  a  solemn 
decision  of  the  highest  legal  tribunal  in  the  State  of 
New-York. 

The  armed  neutrality,  although  its  avowed  pretension 
was  the  protection  of  maritime  trade  and  indemnification 
for  illegal  captures  was,  in  fact,  supported  by  the  pre- 
cedent which  Britain  herself  had  established  in  the  case 
of  the  Prussian  linen.  All  states,  when  once  believed  to 
be  on  the  decline,  like  individual  merchants,  whose  cre- 
dit is  suspected,  must  look  for  a  general  run  or  attack 
upon  their  property.  It  was  so  with  Sweden,  at  the 
death  of  Charles  the  Twelfth ;  with  Austria,  at  the  death 
of  Charles  the  Sixth ;  with  England,  on  the  success  of 
the  American  revolution  ;  and  with  France,  in  the  first 
confusion  of  her  revolutionary  struggle.  To  maintain 
the  political  independence  of  a  nation  progression  in  pow- 
er is  necessary.  The  convention  of  1 800,  between  the 
Emperor  Paul  of  Russia  and  the  subordinate  powers  of 
the  North,  at  the  instigation  of  France,  was  planned  and 
acceded  to,  upon  principles  very  different  from  those  of 
the  former  conventions ;  it  began  to  assume  the  mon- 
strous aspect  of  that  new  code  of  neutrality  which  was 
afterward  promulgated  by  the  two  Cabinets  of  St.  Cloud 
and  Washington.  When  Catharine  broke  off*  the  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  Russia  and  revolutionary 
France,  she  signified  her  motives  to  Sweden  and  Den- 
mark, and  invited  them  to  follow  her  example,  but  ob- 
served that,  with  the  exception  of  France  in  its  then 
rebellious  state,  she  still  adhered  to  the  principles  of  a 
free  neutral  trade. 

But  England  never  acknowledged  the  pretensions  of 
the  armed  neutrality,  and  persisted,  during  the  first  de- 
cade of  the  French  revolutionary  war,  in  capturing  all 
neutral  vessels  employed  in  illicit  commerce  with  her 
enemies.  But  the  battle  of  Marengo  and  treaty  of 
Luneville  gave  France  such  a  decided  military  and  po- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

litical  ascendency  upon  the  European  continent  that  she 
was  enabled,  partly  by  intrigue  and  partly  by  menace, 
to  induce  Paul  of  Russia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Prus- 
sia to  unite  in  getting  up  a  second  and  an  enlarged  edi- 
tion of  the  armed  neutrality,  which  Nelson  committed 
to  the  flames  at  Copenhagen,  in  1801.  After  the  peace 
of  Tilsit,  in  1807,  Alexander  of  Russia,  in  obedience  to 
the  commands  of  Buonaparte,  again  insisted  upon  en- 
forcing the  doctrines  of  the  armed  neutrality,  to  which 
Mr.  Canning,  on  the  part  of  the  British  government, 
replied  (18th  December,  1807,)  "  that  the  King  of  Eng- 
land neither  understands  nor  will  admit  the  pretension 
of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  to  dictate  the  time  or  mode 
of  his  negotiations  with  other  powers.  It  never  will  be 
endured  by  his  Majesty,  that  any  government  shall  in- 
demnify itself  for  the  humiliation  of  serviency  to  France, 
by  the  adoption  of  an  insulting  and  peremptory  tone 
towards  Great  Britain.  England  proclaims  anew  those 
principles  of  maritime  law,  against  which  the  armed 
neutrality,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Empress  Catharine, 
was  originally  directed,  and  against  which  the  present 
hostilities  of  Russia  are  denounced.  Those  principles 
have  been  recognised,  and  acted  upon,  in  the  best  pe- 
riods of  the  history  of  Europe,  and  acted  upon  by  no 
power  with  more  strictness  and  severity  than  by  Rus- 
sia, in  the  reign  of  the  Empress  Catharine.  Those 
principles  it  is  the  right  of  England  to  maintain ;  and, 
against  every  confederacy  England  is  determined,  under 
the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  to  maintain  them. 
They  have,  at  all  times  contributed  essentially  to  the 
support  of  the  maritime  power  of  Great  Britain ;  but 
they  are  become  incalculably  more  valuable  and  im- 
portant, at  a  period,  when  the  maritime  power  of  Great 
Britain  constitutes  the  sole  remaining  bulwark  against 
the  overwhelming  usurpations  of  France,  the  only  refuge 
to  which  other  nations  may  yet  resort,  in  happier  times, 
for  assistance  and  protection. 

Nevertheless,  France  still  continued  to  clamour  for 
the  liberty  of  the  seas;  and  in  1812,  Buonaparte  under- 
took to  establish  all  neutral  claims  by  the  subjugation 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  205 

of  Russia,  in  which,  however,  he  did  not  succeed.     In 
the  same  year,  Mr.  Madison  also,  as  chief  of  our  Ame- 
rican government,  undertook,  by  a  war  against  England, 
to  compel  her  to  acknowledge  by  treaty,  the  whole  oi 
the  new  neutral  Code ;  to  wit,  that  free  ships  make  free 
goods  ;  the  flag  protects  all   it  covers :  no  blockade  is 
legal,  unless  the  place  be  strongly  invested  by  sea  and 
land.     The  war  was  continued  by  the  United  States,  for 
nearly  three  years,  when,   on  the  24th  of  December, 
1814,    a  treaty  of   peace  was  made  with   Britain,   in 
which  no  acknowledgment,  nor  mention  of  any  one  of 
these  neutral  claims,  was   inserted;  that  is  to  say,  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  nations,  as  laid  down  by  Gro- 
tius,   Puffendorff,  Vattel,  and,  indeed,  by  all  the  great 
publicists,  the  United  States  have  abandoned  these  pre- 
tensions :  for,   whenever  a  nation  goes  to  war  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  obtaining   any  given  object,   and 
makes  peace  without  obtaining  it ;  that  object  is   for 
ever  waived  and  relinquished. 

About  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  since,  a  little  work 
was  printed  in  Holland,  said  to  be  the  production  of  the 
late  Mr.  Windham.  It  contains  some  of  the  most  pro- 
found, and  comprehensive  views  of  the  nature  and  im- 
portance of  diplomacy,  together  with  a  full  develope- 
ment  of  the  diplomatic  policy  and  career  of  the  differ- 
ent nations  of  Europe,  more  particularly,  of  France, 
England,  and  Russia,  that  have  ever  been  exhibited  to 
the  world.  Every  page  breathes  the  energy  and  wis- 
dom of  an  accomplished  and  high-minded  statesman. 
Whether  or  not  the  book  has  been  republished  in  Bri- 
tain, or  has  found  its  way  to  these  United  States  I  am  ig- 
norant. It  well  deserves  to  become  the  manual  of  every 
political  student.  Many  of  the  preceding  facts  and 
observations  have  been  taken  from  it  so  far  as  it  reaches; 
namely  down  to  the  peace  of  Amiens,  in  1801-2,  includ- 
ing the  preliminary  and  definitive  treaties. 

The  great  national  importance  of  establishing  a  sys- 
tem of  skilful  diplomacy,  will  be  manifest  upon  consi- 
dering to  what  extreme  peril  the  want  of  such  a  system 
reduced  the  whole  British  empire,  during  the  second  ten 

34 


266  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

years  of  the  French  revolutionary  war.  In  that  awful 
crisis  of  the  world,  when  England  alone,  single-handed 
maintained  the  cause  of  liberty,  social  virtue,  and  civil- 
ized enjoyment,  against  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  and 
its  dependencies,  moving  under  the  banner  of  France ; 
even  then,  the  British  government  did  not  sufficiently  con- 
sider, how  they  should  best  play  for  the  few  foreign 
stakes  yet  left  in  their  hands;  but  most  unwittingly 
threw  them  also  into  the  grasp  of  their  enemy* 

It  was  incumbent  upon  England  then  to  alter  the  ge- 
neral course  of  her  accustomed  diplomacy;  and  send 
out  to  other  governments,  as  ambassadors,  men  of  sound, 
strong,  comprehensive  minds,  of  discreet  habits,  and  con- 
ciliatory manners ;  who  would  always  pay  a  becoming 
deference  to  the  national  feelings  and  prejudices  of  the 
people  among  whom  they  reside ;  and  yet,  justly  and 
honourably  consult  and  advance  the  real,  permanent  in- 
terests of  their  own  country,  in  their  various  diplomatic 
transactions.  Above  all,  it  was  a  matter  of  deep  and 
serious  import  to  England,  to  keep  constantly  in  these 
United  States,  a  resident  minister,  able  to  comprehend 
the  interests  and  relations  of  the  two  people,  and  of  suf- 
ficient magnanimity  to  endeavour  to  unite  them  in  the 
closest  bonds  of  amity,  by  promoting  those  measures  of 
policy  and  commerce,  which  would  redound  to  their 
mutual  advantage ;  and  thus,  by  conjoining  in  the  ties 
of  friendship,  the  only  two  nations  on  the  globe,  which 
enjoy  popular  liberty,  and  an  equitable  administration 
of  justice,  she  might,  perhaps,  have  earlier  raised  an  ef- 
fectual barrier  against  that  unrelenting  military  despo- 
tism, which  was  for  so  many  years  rolling  together,  as  a 
scroll,  the  republics,  kingdoms,  and  empires  of  the  ci- 
vilized world ;  was  so  long  flooding  out  a  tide  of  deso- 
lation, that  having  swept  away  all  the  ancient  bounda- 
ries and  land-marks  of  the  fairer  and  better  portions  of 
the  earth,  then  threatened  to  deluge  the  remainder  with 
the  waters  of  bitterness  and  death. 

When  it  is  recollected,  that  ambassadors  furnish  the 
intelligence,  which  directs  all  the  movements  of  their 
respective  governments,  in  relation  to  foreign  powers, 


RESOURCES  OP  THE  UNITED   STATES.  267 

perhaps,  it  will  not  be  thought,  that  too  much  stress  has 
been,  or  well  can  be  laid  upon  the  great  importance  of 
establishing  a  system  of  adroit,  and  able  diplomacy.  In 
some  periods  of  her  history,  Britain  has  seemed  sensi- 
ble of  this  momentous  truth.  She  has  availed  herself 
of  the  diplomatic  talents  of  Throgmorton,  Temple, 
Marl  borough,  Walpole,  Malmesbury,  and  Jackson.  And, 
if  she  would  oftener  have  recourse  to  such  negotia- 
tors, she  could  not  be  so  frequently  overseen  by  France 
in  her  diplomatic  pacifications  and  treaties ;  nor  be  so 
constantly  exposed  to  the  perilous  necessity  of  standing 
alone,  against  the  armed  combinations  of  other  powers, 
who  are  often  blinded  to  their  own  essential  interests* 
and  duped  into  hostility  against  her  by  the  more  dex- 
terous diplomacy  of  her  Gallic  neighbour.  It  must  not, 
however,  be  forgotten,  that  the  negotiations  of  Lord 
Castlereagh,  which  in  1814  and  1815,  gave  the  Bour- 
bons back  to  France,  and  restored  peace  to  Europe^ 
may  be  reckoned  among  the  wisest  and  most  felicitous 
of  all  the  diplomatic  transactions,  that  have  occurred  in 
the  history  of  the  world. 

The  character  of  a  nation  is  to  be  tried  by  the  same 
test  as  that  of  an  individual.  Whoever  produces  the 
greatest  results  with  the  least  means,  vindicates  to  him- 
self the  most  exalted  character.  Now,  England  with 
less  physical  resources  and  powers ;  that  is  to  say,  with 
less  extent  of  home  territory,  and  a  smaller  population, 
has  produced  greater  national  results  than  France.  The 
British  Isles  cover  only  a  surface  of  a  hundred  thousand 
square  miles,  and  contain  only  twenty  millions  of  souls  ; 
whereas  France  has  a  territorial  basis  of  nearly  three 
hundred  thousand  square  miles,  and  a  population  of 
nearly  thirty  millions ;  yet,  in  all  that  constitutes  perma- 
nent national  strength  and  power;  namely,  a  people 
hardy,  brave,  active,  intelligent,  and  moral ;  productive 
industry,  commerce,  wealth,  colonial  possessions,  all  the 
qualities  of  good  domestic  government,  in  peace,  in  war, 
in  high  reputation  for  probity  and  honour,  she  is  supe- 
rior to  France.  The  uniform  testimony  of  a  series  01 
centuries  proves,  that  whenever  the  British  and  French 


268  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

engage  in  mutual  conflict,  by  land  or  on  the  ocean, 
with  any  thing  like  a  parity  of  numbers,  victory  never 
for  a  moment  flutters  in  suspense,  over  England's  na- 
tional banner.  Britain  therefore,  in  spite  of  the  inces- 
sant errors  of  her  diplomacy,  and  her  being  so  often 
out-manoeuvred  by  the  more  dexterous  policy  of  France, 
is,  as  a  nation,  greater  than  France. 

It  is  also  to  be  remembered,  that,  although  England 
has  never  yet  been  wise  enough  to  retain  in  peace,  a 
sufficient  portion  of  her  war  conquests,  yet  she  generally 
holds  some  portion  of  them,  and  very  seldom  gives  up 
any  part  of  her  own  dominions.  Whence,  she  is  posi* 
lively  stronger  in  territory  at  the  end,  than  at  the  begin- 
ning of  every  war,  although  relatively  to  France,  she 
does  not  make  herself  so  strong  as  she  ought.  Almost 
the  6nly  instance  of  her  giving  up  any  part  of  her  own 
dominions,  occurred  at  the  peace  of  1783,  when  she 
signed  away  all  that  part  of  America,  which  constitutes 
the  whole  of  the  old  United  States,  and  Louisiana,  and 
the  Floridas.  Thus,  by  continually  developing  her  own 
internal  resources  of  intelligence,  policy,  trade,  agricul- 
ture, and  manufactures,  England  has  gradually,  in  the 
course  of  ages,  grown  up  into  a  first  rate  power,  pos- 
sessing, in  addition  to  her  home  territory  and  population, 
nearly  one-fifth  of  the  whole  habitable  globe,  in  colo- 
nial territory,  containing  more  than  one  hundred  millions 
of  subjects,  spread  over  the  East  and  West  Indies,  Eu- 
rope, North  America,  and  Austral- Asia. 

The  causes  of  England's  giving  up  so  much  of  her 
conquests,  at  the  close  of  every  war,  and  her  always 
making  such  miserable  peace  negotiations,  are  to  be 
found  partly  in  the  nature  of  her  popular  government, 
which  compels  the  ministry  to  conclude  a  peace  on  al- 
most any  terms,  whenever  the  people  headed  by  the 
opposition  in  Parliament,  become  generally  clamorous 
against  a  longer  continuance  of  war;  and  partly  from 
the  ministry  themselves  being  corrupt,  or  weak ;  corrupt, 
as  at  the  negotiations  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  when  St. 
John,  Lord  Bolingbroke,  and  Harley,  Lord  Oxford,  sa- 
crificed the  best  interests  of  England,  betrayed  Holland 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  269 

to  her  ruin,  deserted  Austria  in  her  hour  of  need,  gave 
Spain  to  a  Bourbon,  made  France  the  mistress  of  Eu- 
rope ;  and  all  for  what  ? — that  a  tory  French  faction 
might  domineer  over  Marlborough,  and  Godolphin,  and 
Somers,  and  all  the  disciples  of  William  of  Nassau 
Orange,  whose  wisdom  and  valour  had  rescued  Europe 
from  the  iron  dominion  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  by 
seven  and  twenty  years  of  uninterrupted  victory ;  cor- 
rupt as  when,  in  1763,  Lord  Bute  and  the  Duke  of 
Bedford,  for  a  beggarly  sum  of  money,  paid  into  their 
own  private  purse,  sold  all  the  conquests  of  Chatham's 
glorious  war,  in  Asia,  Europe,  and  America,  for  a  peace 
which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  dismemberment  of  the 
British  empire,  in  1783;  an  event  which  the  weakness  of 
Lord  North's  administration  imposed  upon  Britain; 
weak  as  when,  in  1802,  the  Addington  ministry  conclud- 
ed the  peace  of  Amiens,  which  degraded  and  weaken- 
ed England,  and  gave  to  revolutionary  France  the  domi- 
nion of  Europe,  and  extended  her  controlling  influence 
over  the  other  three  quarters  of  the  globe. 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  these  pernicious  blunders  in 
her  diplomatic  policy,  England  has,  on  the  whole, 
averaged  an  increase  of  national  wealth,  strength,  and 
power,  during  the  last  three  centuries,  from  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth  to  the  present  hour,  by  acting  on  fixed 
principles  of  liberty,  industry,  enterprise,  justice,  cou- 
rage, and  wisdom.  She  is  in  possession  now  of  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  commerce  of  the  world;  her 
empire  in  India  is  immense  beyond  a  parallel ;  she  belts 
the  globe  with  her  colonial  dominion  ;  she  covers  Eu- 
rope, and  Africa,  and  Asia,  and  America,  with  her  in- 
fluence. She  has  recently  rallied  the  millions  of  Portu- 
gal, and  Spain,  and  Holland,  and  Prussia,  and  Austria, 
and  Russia,  and  Sweden,  and  Italy,  and  Germany, 
around  her  protecting  banner,  and  led  them  to  redemp- 
tion from  the  most  galling  military  and  political  bond- 
age that  ever  bowed  the  spirit  of  man  to  the  dust  from 
which  he  sprung. 

In  the  year  1782,  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  "  Notes  on 
Virginia,"  declared,  that  the  sun  of  England  was  for 


270  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ever  set  in  darkness  and  in  sorrow,  never  again  to  peer 
above  the  horizon ;  that  she  was  on   the  eve   of  being 
blotted  out  from  the  list  of  nations  ;  that  her  liberty  anc 
glory  had   departed  from  her,  and  taken  their  fligh 
across  the  Atlantic,  to  fix  their  everlasting  abode  in 
these  United  States.     "  Thy  heart  was  father,  Thomas 
to  that  wish !"     But  nearly  forty  years  have  rolled  thei 
eventful  tide  of  time,  since  the  sage  of  Monticello  croak 
ed,  from  out  his  mountain  cavern,  this  ill-omened  pro 
phecy — and  the  sun  of  England  is  not  set.     Nay,  has  i 
yet  culminated  from  the  equator  ?     Have  facts  accord 
ed  with  the  sinister  forebodings  of  this  inauspicious  pro- 
phet ?     Since  the  utterance  of  this  oracular  dirge,  has 
she  not  broken  down  the  giant  strength  of  revolutionary 
France;  restored  the   balance  of  empire  to  Europe 
given  peace  to  an  exhausted  world ;  and  seated  hersel 
upon  an  eminence  of  national   glory,  that  casts  into 
shade  all  the  lustre  of  Greek  and  Roman  fame  ? 

There  is  no  subject  of  pursuit  more  worthy  the  atten 
tion  of  the  moral  philosopher  and  statesman  than  a  sci 
entific  investigation  of  human  laws,  municipal  and  inter 
national ;  which  are,  in  fact,  the  historians  of  the  justice 
of  mankind;  while   the  relations   of  political  and  mi 
litary  events  are,  for  the  most  part,  only  the  accounts  o 
their  ambition  and  violence.     What  can  be  more  in 
structive  than  to   trace  out  the  first  obscure  and  scanty 
fountains  of  that  mighty  river  of  jurisprudence,  which 
now  waters  and  enriches  the  many  nations  of  modern 
Christendom  with  so  abundant  and  fertilizing  a  flood  ? 
to  observe  the  first  principles  of  individual  right,  anc 
national  freedom,  springing  up,  amidst  the  darkness  of  su- 
perstition and  the   pollutions  of  crime,  to  mark  their 
progress,  until  the  lapse  of  years,  and  a  concurrence  o; 
favourable  circumstances  brightened  them  into  clearness, 
and  unfolded  them  into  maturity  of  strength  ?     Whai 
more  instructive  study  than  to  watch  the  progress  of 
the  laws,  their  courses  of  deflection,  of  circuit,  of  ad- 
vance; sometimes  trodden  down,  and  apparently  lost 
for  ever,  amidst  the  tumult  and  confusion  of  domestic 
anarchy  and  external  war;  sometimes  quite  overruled 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  £7  j 


by  the  hand  of  municipal  power  at  home  ;  then  victori- 
ous over  internal  tyranny ;  growing,  eventually,  stronger, 
clearer,  and  more  decisive,  by  the  very  violence  which 
they  have  suffered ;  more  deeply  rooted  by  the  fury  of 
the  tempest,  which  scattered  their  topmost  branches 
into  the  air,  and  covered  the  ground  with  their  wither- 
ed foliage  ;  enriched  even  by  the  temporary  desolation 
of  those  foreign  conquests  which  menaced  their  entire 
destruction ;  softened  by  peace,  sanctified  by  religion, 
improved,  enlarged,  exalted,  by  commerce,  by  social 
intercourse,  by  science,  and  by  erudition  ? 

In  addition  to  this  course  of  general  inquiry,  the 
American  student  ought  to  obtain  that  information 
which  results  from  an  analytical  investigation  of  the 
constitutions,  statutes,  and  judicial  decisions  of  the  uni- 
ted and  separate  States ;  a  branch  of  legal  learning  the 
more  necessary,  because  the  people  of  this  country  pos- 
sess the  supreme,  sovereign  power  of  creating,  altering, 
and  annihilating,  at  their  own  discretion,  their  respect- 
ive governments,  whether  State  or  federal.  And, 
therefore,  is  it  peculiarly  incumbent  on  them  to  acquire 
that  legal  and  political  knowledge,  which  will  best 
qualify  them  for  the  judicious  exercise  of  so  important  a 
privilege,  so  difficult  a  duty,  so  dangerous  an  experi- 
ment. By  carefully  examining  our  different  constitu- 
tions, statutes,  and  judicial  decisions ;  by  comparing 
them  together,  and,  at  the  same  time,  referring  to  the 
various  degrees  of  order  and  prosperity,  the  condition 
of  society,  and  the  standard  of  religion  and  morals,  in 
each  particular  State,  an  accurate  estimate  might  be 
formed  of  the  relative  excellences  and  defects  of  the 
different  constitutions,  and  legal  codes  of  the  Union ;  and 
a  pathway  of  light  pointed  out,  by  which  essential  alter- 
ations, and  substantial  improvements,  might  be  gradu- 
ally introduced  into  the  municipal  systems,  and  political 
fabrics  of  the  respective  States. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  manifest  utility  of  such  in- 
formation, and  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  such 

•  •  •  • 

comparative  views,  however  accurately  the  constitution 
and  laws  of  any  particular  State  may  be  known  within 


272  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

its  own  limits,  those  of  other  States  are  very  slightly 
studied  beyond  the  boundaries  of  their  respective  terri- 
tories. There  are  many  able  and  learned  New-York, 
and  Massachusetts,  and  Pennsylvanian,  and  Virginian 
lawyers ;  but  there  are  very  few  American  lawyers  in 
the  United  States ;  that  is  to  say,  men  acquainted  with 
the  constitutional,  common,  and  statute  laws  of  the 
several  different  States,  and  of  the  Union.  It  is  to  be 
regretted,  that  an  analytical  examination  of  the  munici- 
pal systems  of  the  general  and  State  governments  is  not 
made  a  component  part  of  academical  instruction  in  the 
Colleges  of  the  Union.  Such  an  inquiry  ought  to  fol- 
low a  regular  examination  of  the  institutions  of  Lycur- 
gus,  Solon,  and  Numa ;  and  an  analysis  of  the  different 
systems  of  American  polity  and  jurisprudence  ought 
to  be  considered  the  legitimate  sequel  of  an  investiga- 
tion into  the  merits  of  the  political  and  legal  fabrics  of 
Sparta,  Athens,  and  Rome. 

Some  few  attempts  have  been  made  to  establish  a 
system  of  legal  instruction  in  different  parts  of  the 
Union.  For  full  thirty  years  past,  Mr.  Justice  Reeve, 
first  alone,  and  latterly  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Gould, 
an  eminent  lawyer  and  advocate,  has  been  employed  in 
delivering  an  annual  course  of  lectures  on  the  common 
law  and  on  American  jurisprudence,  in  the  State  of 
Connecticut.  These  lectures  have  long  been  justly 
distinguished  for  their  legal  precision  and  learning ;  and 
have  accordingly,  for  many  years  past,  attracted  a  great 
number  of  students  from  all  the  different  States. 

About  twenty  five  years  since  the  present  Chancellor 
of  the  State  of  New- York,  as  Professor  of  Law,  in  Co- 
lumbia College,  delivered  lectures — the  first  session,  to 
forty  students ;  the  next,  to  two,  and  the  third,  to  none, 
when  he  resigned  his  chair.  It  is  no  little  impeachment 
of  the  good  sense  of  the  legal  students  of  this  city,  that 
they  neglected  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  of 
profiting  by  the  instructions  of  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  learned  jurists  of  the  age  in  which  we  live.  In 
Virginia,  prelections  on  international  law  are  delivered 
by  Mr.  Nelson,  one  of  the  district  Chancellors  of  that 


.RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  273 

State,  who  also  fills  the  chair  of  municipal  law,  which 
was  once  so  ably  occupied  by  Mr.  Justice  Tucker,  the 
American  annotator  upon  Judge  Blackstone's  Commen- 
taries. In  Baltimore,  Mr.  Hoffman  delivers  lectures  on 
law ;  he  has  lately  published  a  work,  entitled,  "  A 
Course  of  Legal  Study,"  which  is  not  only  peculiarly 
serviceable  to  the  student,  but  may  be  perused  with  ad- 
vantage by  the  mature  lawyer;  with  so  much  talent  and 
skill  is  its  various  legal  learning  arranged  and  exhibited. 

If  the  several  States  of  Connecticut,  Virginia,  and 
Maryland  afford  to  their  respective  students  such  op- 
portunities of  legal  instruction,  is  it  not  incumbent  upon 
the  great  State  of  New-York,  situated  at  the  confluence 
of  all  the  streams  of  American  intelligence  and  enter- 
prise, as  well  legal  and  moral,  as  commercial  and  politi- 
cal, to  begin  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  general  school 
of  jurisprudence. 

A  difference  of  opinion  exists  between  some  of  our 
ablest  men  in  this  country,  respecting  the  utility  of  lec- 
tures ;  one  party  asserting  that  they  convey  no  instruc- 
tion, however  composed  and  arranged,  wnile  another 
insists,  that,  if  wcM  digested  and  clearly  told,  they  ma- 
terially aid  the  progress  of  the  pupil  in  improvement. 
Lectures,  on  whatever  subject,  must  indeed,  for  the 
most  part,  be  only  a  series  of  compilations,  because  no 
one  can  create  facts.  He  can  merely  collect,  by  patient 
diligence,  the  experience  and  observations  of  others, 
wheresoever  scattered  in  voluminous  records,  or  floating 
in  traditionary  forms.  To  such  a  collection  of  mate- 
rials the  lecturer  must  apply  the  analytical  and  synthe- 
tical processes  of  judgment,  reasoning,  selection,  and 
combination,  in  order  to  exhibit  the  soul  and  spirit  of 
the  subjects  discussed,  condensed  into  plain  and  practi- 
cal results.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  those  who 
undertake  to  lecture  on  law  ;  because  no  private  indi- 
vidual can  make  law,  which  is  the  result  of  the  prac- 
tical experience  of  the  community,  embodied  into  au- 
thority, either  by  judicial  decisions  or  statutes.  The 
teacher  can  only  state  the  law  to  be  as  he  finds  it,  al- 
ready determined  or  enacted,  and  thence,  by  induction, 

35 


97J.  RESOURCES  OK  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

derive  general  principles,  applicable  to  similar  facts  and 
analogous  particulars. 

But  it  does  not  therefore  follow,  that  lectures  are 
useless.  Nor  will  it  suffice  to  say,  the  student  may 
consult  the  books,  and  compile  a  system  for  himself. 
Very  few  can  possess  the  requisites  for  such  a  laborious 
and  extensive  undertaking.  A  great  command  of 
books,  abundant  leisure,  indefatigable  industry,  expe- 
rience to  know  where  to  search  and  how  to  select  from 
amidst  the  vast  masses  of  unconnected  particular  facts 
and  points,  are  all  necessary.  Now,  young  men  cannot 
often  be  qualified  to  arrange  and  mould  into  shape  and 
symmetry  the  huge  chaos  of  matter  that  lies  floating, 
without  form  and  void,  amidst  the  shoreless  ocean  of  the 
law.  Young  gentlemen,  just  emancipated  from  the  sa- 
lutary restraints  of  academical  life,  are  not  very  likely 
to  forego  the  pleasures  incident  to  that  vernal  season, 
or  exchange  the  fascinating  pursuit  of  classical  studies 
and  the  belles  lettres  for  the  solitary  task  of  endea- 
vouring to  thread  the  mazes  of  the  legal  labyrinth,  with 
no  Ariadne  near  to  furnish  a  clue  by  which  to  guide 
their  bewildered  steps.  But,  when  the  preceptor's  di- 
ligence has  cleared  away  the  underwood,  struck  out 
roads,  and  marked  distances  through  the  forest,  the 
student  will  be  able  to  journey  on  his  way  with  alacrity 
and  improvement. 

He  who  does  not  study  at  stated  times,  and  sys- 
tematically, studies  to  little  purpose  ;  and  it  is  one  great 
benefit  of  lectures,  that  they  inculcate  the  necessity  and 
furnish  an  example  of  the  utility  of  habitual  and  sys- 
tematic study,  by  pointing  out  the  sources  of  general 
instruction,  by  giving  practical  results,  by  exhibiting  an 
analysis  of  what  is  disorderly  and  obscure,  by  dealing 
out  regular  and  periodical  information.  Besides  new 
compilations,  in  the  form  of  lectures,  are  necessary  on  a 
subject  so  complicated,  so  voluminous,  so  constantly  in- 
creasing in  bulk,  as  the  law  must  be,  from  its  duty  of 
habitually  watching  over,  guiding,  protecting,  and  pu- 
nishing the  circumstances,  words,  and  actions  of  human 
society,  ever  fluctuating  and  various.  Succeeding  ages 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  275 

and  multiplied  researches  produce  new  varieties  of  legal 
points  and  new  modifications  of  the  principles  of  evi- 
dence, which  should  be  arranged  and  added  in  a  sys- 
tematic form  to  the  existing  mass.  The  evidence,  au- 
thority, and  proof  of  law  are  all  of  the  cumulative  kind, 
increasing  with  the  increasing  age,  civilization,  growth, 
prosperity,  and  intelligence  of  the  community.  And, 
by  adding  to  the  long-established  elementary  principles 
of  jurisprudence  the  discoveries  and  improvements  of 
each  succeeding  generation,  we  improve  the  proportion 
and  beautify  the  symmetry  of  the  legal  code. 

New  compilations,  also,  are  serviceable  on  all   sub- 
jects, admitting   impiovements  and   accommodation  to 
the  passing  times,  because  all  men  write  most  success- 
fully and  intelligibly  for  the  age  in  which  they  live. 
Whatever  may  be  our  admiration  of  the  glowing  senti- 
ments and  splendid  eloquence  of  the  great  writers  of 
antiquity,  every  day  and  every  hour  present  our  own 
age  in  aspects  and  under  circumstances,  that,  for  all  the 
purposes  of  practical  utility  and  instruction,  chains  down 
the   mind    to   the    contemplation   of  the    present,    and 
causes  its  existing  interests,  passions,  prejudices,  habits, 
evils,  conveniences,  hopes,  and  fears,  to  predominate 
over  those  of  the  past  ages,  which  are  already  mingled 
with  the  years  beyond  the  flood.     All  which  applies, 
with  peculiar  force,  to  works  on  law  ;  because  the  legal 
code  of  every  nation  depends  upon  the  general  improve- 
ment of  society  for  its  own  progression  towards  perfec- 
tion.    In  proportion  as  the  science  of  metaphysics  sheds 
its  light  on  the  principles  of  evidence;  as  history  unfolds 
the  series  of  human  actions ;  as  political  economy  teaches 
the  relations  between  government  and  people  and  the 
elements  of  international  law;  as  moral  philosophy  points 
out  the  duties  and  charities  of  life,  will  the  jurisprudence 
of  a  country  become  clear  and  upright  in  all  its  provi- 
sions, a  shield  to  protect  the  innocent,  a  sword  to  punish 
the  guilty,  the  bulwark  of  individual  liberty,  of  private 
property,  and  social  reputation. 

It  is  the   opinion  of  some  very  distinguished  writers, 
that  the  study  of  the  law  invariably  tends  to  narrQw  the 


276  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

faculties ;  to  diminish,  and  sharpen  into  a  point  of  tech- 
nical precision,  and  formal  acuteness,  those  intellectual 
powers,  which  under  more  auspicious  circumstances, 
might  explore  the  recondite  depths  of  science,  luxuriate 
in  the  flowery  paths  of  literature;  or  range  throughout 
the  universe,  in  quest  of  vast  and  varied  information. 
It  is  assumed  as  an  unquestionable  proposition,  that  a 
thorough  lawyer,  is  by  the  very  fact  of  understanding 
his  own  profession  well,  disqualified  from  looking  up- 
ward and  traversing  the  higher  regions  of  intellect;  the 
fields  of  metaphysical,  political,  moral,  literary,  and  sci- 
entific investigation.  Among  these  impugners  of  the 
study  of  the  law,  the  most  conspicuous  in  modern  times, 
are  Mr.  Burke,  Mr.  Canning,  and  the  author  of  the 
Pursuits  of  Literature  ;  who  enforce  their  strictures  up- 
on its  narrowing  tendencies,  in  strains  of  lofty  and  im- 
passioned eloquence. 

But  Mr.  Burke  gives  up  the  whole  question,  when  he 
says,  "  except  in  persons  very  happily  born"  If  these 
words  mean  men  of  genius,  of  great  native  talent,  (and 
in  their  context,  they  do  not  admit  of  any  other  signifi- 
cation) the  charge  against  the  narrowing  tendency  of 
the  study  of  the  law  falls  to  the  ground.  For  no  man 
presumes,  that  the  study  of  the  law  can  "  open  and  libe- 
ralize" minds  of  merely  ordinary  capacity ;  because  no 
kind  of  study  can  produce  such  an  effect.  Such  minds 
are  by  their  verv  nature  incapable  of  comprehensive 
enlargement ;  and  therefore,  have  no  business  with  the 
study  of  the  law,  as  a  science.  They  may,  indeed,  and 
often  do,  pick  up  an  acquaintance  with  its  minuter  forms, 
its  obscurer  details,  and  its  more  subordinate  technicali- 
ties. But  law,  in  its  higher  and  more  legitimate  accept- 
ation, is  to  them  for  ever  as  a  fountain  closed,  and  a 
volume  sealed.  If  the  law  do  open  and  liberalize  minds 
"  happily  born,"  that  is  to  say,  minds  of  great  native  ca- 
pacity ;  then  the  narrowing  tendency  is  not  in  the  study 
itself,  but  in  the  mind  of  the  student,  which  being  by 
nature  small  and  narrow,  cannot  be  dilated,  nor  stretch- 
ed into  magnitude  by  any  intellectual  process;  because 
education  can  never  create  any  new  faculty,  nor  increase 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  277 

the  native  power  of  the  understanding;  it  can  only  de- 
velope  by  use  and  exercise,  those  talents,  whether  strong 
and  rapid,  or  slow  and  weak,  which  God  has  given  to 
men,  as  the  measure  of  their  natural  ability. 

Mr.  Canning  also;  yields  the  force  of  his  objection, 
Avhen  he  says,  "  were  the  study  of  the  law  indeed,  con- 
ducted as  it  ought,  it  might  well  be  considered  as  a  pro- 
per preparation  for  the  duties  of  a  statesman,"  &c.     But 
no  rules  of  fair  reasoning,  admit  of  arguing  against  the 
use  of  a  thing  from  its  abuse.     And  if  a  proper  mode  of 
studying  the  law  will  prepare  the  mind  for  the  enlarged 
horizon  of  a  statesman's  view,  it  cannot  be  essential  to 
the  nature  of  law  to  narrow  the  understanding;  but  the 
charge  applies  only  to  an  illiberal  and  unwise  method 
of  studying  it.     And  such  a  mode  of  studying  any  other 
science,  or  any  department  of  letters,  would  narrow  the 
mind,  and  render  it  bleak  and  barren.     The  proper  and 
well-directed  study  of  the  classics,  belles  lettres,  meta- 
physics,   physics,     politics,    theology,    enlarges     and 
strengthens  the  intellect.     But  the  finest  capacity  would 
become  minute  and  paltry,   were  it  to  study  any,  or  all 
of  these  branches  of  learning,  in  the  mode  so  justly  re- 
probated by  Mr.  Canning,  namely,  "  in  order  to  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  forms  of  an  ill-contrived  technical  jar- 
gon, and  of  a  mass  of  decisions  and  regulations,  with 
out  sufficient  attention  to  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  originated,  the  principles  on  which  they  are  found- 
ed, or  their  defects,  and  possible  improvements."     The 
law  itself,  therefore,  is  free  from  these  objections,  which 
can  relate  only  to  the  improper  mode  of  conducting  its 
study. 

The  author  of  the  "  Pursuits  of  Literature"  under- 
takes to  prove,  "  that  in  State  affairs  all  barristers  are 
dull;"  and  yet  admits,  that  the  Lords  Thurlow  and 
Loughborough  were  great  statesmen.  But  Wedder- 
burne  and  Thurlow  were  also  eminent  lawyers.  And 
if  the  study  of  the  law  did  not  narrow  their  minds,  it 
Can  have  no  natural  tendency  to  produce  such  an  ef- 
fect in  any  other  students.  Did  the  study  of  law  nar- 
row the  mind  of  Bacon,  or  Hale,  or  Hardwicke,  or 


278  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Mansfield,  or  Jones,  or  Hamilton  ?  The  fault  then,  if 
fault  there  be,  lies  not  in  the  nature  of  the  study,  but  in 
the  mode  of  studying,  or  in  the  mind  of  the  student. 
The  tendency  of  a  strong  mind  is  to  study  law,  as  well 
as  every  other  branch  of  intellectual  inquiry,  on  :he 
broad  ground  of  general  principles.  To  generalize,  or 
climb,  by  an  induction  from  particular  facts  to  general 
results,  Lord  Bacon  calls  the  proud  prerogative  of 
genius.  But  slow  and  feeble  minds  have  no  power  to 
make  general  combinations.  Isolated  facts  lie  scattered 
up  and  down,  singly,  in  their  brain,  like  dry  and  wither- 
ed sticks,  without  any  bond  of  connexion,  without  any 
faculty  of  reasoning  and  imagination,  to  cause  them  to 
strike  Foot,  and  branch  forth  into  great  and  productive 
principles. 

Such  men,  to  be  sure,  always  make  formal,  minute, 
narrow-minded  case-lawyers.  Yet  it  is  not  the  study  of 
the  law  which  narrows  their  intellect ;  but  their  intel- 
lect which  narrows  the  study  of  the  law.  Were  they 
to  pursue  any  other  study  than  that  of  law,  they 
would  still  be  narrow-minded ;  they  would,  in  the  pur- 
suit of  politics,  or  theology,  or  medicine,  be  case-politi- 
cians, case-divines,  or  case-physicians,  because  they  are 
case-men,  and  must  necessarily  carry  the  groundwork  of 
their  nature  into  whatever  calling  they  follow  ;  must 
preserve  the  dowlass  texture  of  their  garment,  whatever 
of  embroidery  or  ornament  they  may  heap  upon  it.  The 
standard  of  the  Persian  monarchs,  in  their  ruder  ages, 
was  a  leathern  apron.  In  after  times,  the  sovereigns 
endeavoured  to  hide  its  unseemliness  from  the  view,  by 
covering  it  all  over  with  barbaric  pearl  and  gold ;  but  it 
still  remained,  intrinsically,  a  leathern  apron,  notwith- 
standing its  external  pomp. 

The  following  facts  will  show  that  the  study  of  the 
law  has  no  necessary  tendency  to  narrow  a  strong 
mind.  When  Lord  Thurlow  was  at  the  bar,  and  con- 
sulted on  any  great  question,  he  used  to  make  himself 
well  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  meditate 
on  them  patiently  until  he  reached  his  result,  by  fair 
reasoning  on  the  general  principles  of  law^  as  applied  to 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  270 

the  question  before  him.  He  then  repaired  to  Mr. 
(afterward  Lord)  Kenyon,  the  most  learned  common 
lawyer  in  Westminster  Hall,  since  Sir  Matthew  Hale, 
stated  to  him  the  facts,  and  his  own  results,  in  order  to 
see  if  his  conclusions  coincided  with  the  inference  of  law 
to  be  drawn  from  judicial  decisions  on  the  same  or  a 
similar  subject.  And  it  almost  invariably  happened 
that  Thurlow's  result,  derived  from  general  reasoning, 
was  in  strict  accordance  with  the  inference  drawn  by 
Kenyon,  from  an  examination  of  decided  cases.  What 
an  eulogium  does  this  fact  convey,  not  only  upon  the 
comprehensive  sagacity  and  reasoning  powers  of  Lord 
Thurlow,  but  also  on  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  the 
common  law ! 

Lord  Bacon  was  a  profound  lawyer,  as  sufficiently 
appears  by  his  law-tracts,  and  more  particularly  his 
"  Reading  on  the  Statute  of  Uses."  And,  whether  or 
not  the  study  of  the  law  narrowed  his  mind,  may  be 
discovered  by  examining  his  "  Novum  Organum,"  and 
his  treatise  "De  Jlugmentis  Scientiarum  ;"  works  in  which 
his  stupendous  intellect,  anticipating  the  age  in  which 
he  lived  by  at  least  a  thousand  years,  has  laid  down 
those  universal  principles  of  investigation  and  reasoning, 
by  which  alone  the  mind  can  successfully  regulate  its 
search  after  improvement  and  truth: 

-Clarum,  et  venerabile  nomen, 


"  Gentibus,  et  nostro  multum  quod  prodidit  orbi.'* 

The  denunciations  against  the  narrowing  tendencies 
of  the  study  of  the  law,  pronounced  by  Mr.  Burke,  Mr. 
Canning,  and  the  author  of  the  "  Pursuits  of  Litera- 
ture," are  to  be  found  in  Mr.  JBurke's  speech  on  Ame- 
rican taxation,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on 
the  ]9th  of  April,  1774;  and  in  an  "Answer  to  an  In- 
quiry into  the  State  of  the  Nation,"  written  in  1806,  irr 
order  to  refute  the  positions  of  a  celebrated  pamphlet, 
written  conjointly  by  Mr.  Fox  and  Mr.  Brougham.  Mr. 
Canning's  strictures  on  the  study  of  the  law  were  called 
forth,  by  the  appointment  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  Chief 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  to  a  seat  in  the  executive 
cabinet.  "  A  prefatory  Epistle  on  the  Pursuits  of  Lite- 
rature," is  exceedingly  severe  on  all  lawyers,  and  espe- 
cially on  Lord  (then  Mr.)  Erskine,  for  their  incompe- 
tency  in  political  affairs.  All  these  performances  are 
emblazoned  with  splendid  eloquence,  and  two  of  them 
are  also  enlivened  with  keen  and  polished  wit ;  but  their 
inferences  I  hope  have  been  proved  to  be  fallacious. 

It  is  objected  by  Mr.  Bentham,  in  his  celebrated 
Treatise  on  Legislation,  that  the  common  law  of  England 
is  rude  and  barbarous  in  its  origin,  unfit  for  the  present 
advanced  stage  of  civilization,  far  inferior  to  the  Roman 
or  civil  law,  in  comprehensive  wisdom,  and  accuracy  of 
detail,  and  radically  defective  in  not  being  a  written 
code,  but  merely  customary,  and  growing  out  of  the 
usages  and  habits  of  the  community. 

The  soundness  of  this  assertion,  although  urged  by 
such  high  authority,  is  questionable ;  for  no  individual, 
no  community  can  provide  for,  or  foresee  the  exigencies 
which  are  continually  arising  amidst,  the  ceaseless  fluc- 
tuation of  human  affairs;  and  consequently,  if  there 
were  no  legal  code,  save  what  was  written,  in  the  shape 
of  ordinance,  statute,  or  decree,  society  would  be,  at 
once,  too  much  trammelled  in  its  movements,  and  with- 
out remedy  in  many  emergencies.  This  is  emphatically 
the  case  in  China  and  Hindostan,  whose  written  codes 
are  prodigiously  minute  in  their  provisions,  watching 
over  and  regulating  all  the  little  details  of  individual 
pursuit,  domestic  economy,  and  social  life.  Besides,  in 
all  countries,  even  the  most  despotic,  a  common  or  cus- 
tomary law  prevails,  owing  to  the  absolute  incompe- 
tence of  positive  enactments,  legislative  provisions,  and 
executive  decrees,  to  regulate  all  the  concerns  of  the 
community.  Hence,  it  existed  among  the  nations  of 
antiquity,  whether  free  or  enslaved,  as  the  Greeks,  Per- 
sians, and  Romans ;  it  exists  also  in  the  modern  world, 
among  the  bond  and  free  ;  among  the  Hindus,  Chinese, 
and  Turks,  the  nations  of  continental  Europe  which 
have  adopted  the  civil  law  as  the  basis  of  their  own 
municipal  codes,  the  French,  Germans,  Italians,  Spa- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

niards,  and  Dutch,  as  well  as  the  English,  Irish,  and 
Americans,  who  profess  to  be  governed  almost  entirely 
by  the  provisions  of  the  common  law. 

This  common,  or  customary  law,  implies  in  its  very 
name,  as  springing  from  the  customs  and  habits  of  the 
country  where  it  exists,  that  it  is  in  a  state  of  perpetual 
change  ;  since  the  customs  and  habits  of  a  people,  more 
especially  if  free  to  follow  their  own  inclinations,  are 
perpetually  changing.  A  common  law  prevails  in  all 
nations,  but  most  in  free  communities,  because  in  them 
the  greatest  respect  is  paid  to  the  feelings,  habits,  man- 
ners, and  customs  of  the  people.  It  is  impossible,  by 
statute,  to  provide  for  every  particular  case  that  may 
arise  amidst  the  various  modifications  of  which  proper- 
ty is  susceptible,  the  diversity  of  relations  in  civil  life, 
the  many  possible  combinations  of  events  and  circum- 
stances which  elude  the  power. of  enumeration,  and 
inock  the  reach  of  all  human  foresight 

But  whatever  is  not  written  is  common  law  j  and,  ac- 
cordingly, in  every  country  pretending  to  any  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  it  has  been  found  expedient  to  entrust 
the  judges  with  the  power  of  deducing  from  the  more 
general  propositions  of  law,  and  from  the  habits  and 
customs,  sanctioned  by  usage,  such  practical  corollaries 
as  may  most  conduce  to  the  furtherance  of  justice.  De-* 
Auctions  thus  formed  and  established,  in  the  adjudica- 
tion of  particular  causes,  become  part  of  the  text  or 
body  of  the  municipal  law.  Succeeding  judges  receive 
them  as  such,  and  generally  consider  themselves  as  much 
bound  by  them  as  by  me  provisions  of  statute  law. 
Thus  grows  up,  gradually,  a  body  of  common  or  cus- 
tomary law*  Cicero,  in  his  "  Oratories  Partitiones"  ex- 
pressly asserts,  that  an  every  country  two  sorts  of  law 
prevail ;  one  written,  the  other  not  written,  but  spring- 
ing up,  either  from  the  rights  of  nations,  or  the  munici- 
pal customs  of  their  ancestors.  Rome  and  England, 
under  their,  mixed  governments,  the  one  inclining  to 
democracy  in  its  later  stages,  the  other  pretty  equal- 
ly poised  by  the  conflicting  forces  of  monarchy,  aristo- 
cracy, and  democracy,  have  been  the  greatest  legisla- 

36 


282  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tors  recorded  in  history.  Rome  has  left  the  foundation, 
and  great  part  of  the  superstructure,  of  her  civil  code, 
to  the  whole  European  continent — to  Scotland,  to  the 
colonies  of  France,  Spain,  Holland,  Sweden,  and  Den- 
mark. England  has,  in  her  own  island,  carried  the  au- 
thority and  government  of  law  to  a  very  high  eminence 
of  perfection ;  and  has  transmitted  her  municipal  code 
to  Ireland,  to  her  European,  African,  Asiatic,  and  Ame- 
rican colonies,  and  to  these  United  States. 

Under  both  the  Roman  and  English  establishments, 
the  common  law  or  known  customs,  and  the  practice 
and  decisions  of  courts,  acquired  equal  authority  with 
positive  statutes.     Effectual  precautions  were  taken  for 
the  impartial  application  of  general  rules  to  particular 
cases;  and  a  surprising  coincidence  exists  in  the  modes 
of  jurisdiction,  adopted  by  these  two  nations.     In  both 
countries  the  people  reserved  to  themselves  the  office  of 
judgment,  and  brought  the  decision  of  civil  rights  and 
criminal  questions   to  the  tribunal  of  peers,  or  a  jury, 
who,  in  judging  their  fellow-citizens,  prescribed  a  con- 
dition  of  Hie  for  themselves.     Nay,  the  term  common 
law,  as  well  as  the  thing  itself,  is  not  confined  to  the 
law  of  England.     Sir  Heneage  Finch,  afterward   Lord 
Nottingham,  one  of  the  ablest  of  a  very  long  list  of  able 
English  Chancellors,  says,  "  that  it  is  not  a  word  new, 
nor  strange,  nor  barbarous,  nor  proper  only  to  England, 
but  is  common  to  other  countries  also."      Euripides, 
more  than  once,  makes  mention  of  the  common  laws  of 
Greece;  and  Plato,  in  his  Treatise  on  a  republic,  de- 
fines the  common  law  to  be  "  that  which  is  first  taken 
u;>  by  the  common  consent  and  usage  of  a  country,  and 
afterward   sanctioned   by    judicial   decisions;    he    also 
calls  it   "  the  golden  and   sacred   rule  of  reason ;"  a 
phrase  borrowed  by  Lord  Coke,  when  he  said,  "  that 
common  law  was  nothing  else  but  right  reason;"  mean- 
ing, doubtless,  that  refined  reason,  the  offspring  of  ex- 
perience   and   wisdom,   whqse    authority   is   generally 
obeyed  by  the  consent  of  all. 

The  common   law  is  peculiarly  favourable   to   the 
growth  and  maintenance  of  liberty,  both  personal  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  283 

political,  because  it  cherishes  and  establishes  thos'e 
usages  and  customs  of  the  people,  which  experience  has 
proved  to  be  practically  beneficial ;  whereas,  written 
law  is  unfavourable  to  freedom,  by  fettering  the  move- 
ments of  social  action ;  and  by  leaving  no  room  for  the 
growth  of  popular  habits  and  customs.  Hence  the 
common  law  prevails  most  in  the  freest  countries,  whose 
freedom  it  continually  augments ;  for  example,  it  bears 
greater  sway  in  England,  and  in  the  United  States,  than 
in  any  other  country ;  because  they  are  the  most  essen- 
tially free,  and  substantially  civilized,  of  all  nations,  an- 
cient or  modern.  The  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
the  common  law  is  its  elastic  energy,  accommodated  to 
all  social  exigencies ;  alike  fitted  to  direct  and  regulate 
the  tender  infancy,  the  aspiring  youth,  the  matured 
manhood,  and  the  venerable  age  of  nations.  Whence, 
its  limits  are  in  continual  progression ;  as  new  exigen- 
cies arise  in  the  community,  and  consequently  new  com- 
binations and  applications  of  common  law'  principles 
are  necessary.  And,  as  the  English  and  American 
judges,  following  the  light  of  Lord  Mansfield's  great 
example,  embrace  the  general  principles  of  jurispru- 
dence, the  common  law  will  travel  over  the  dominions 
of  equity  ;  and  that  which  is  merely  equity  now,  will  in 
the  lapse  of  half  a  century,  be  established  common  law 
decision  and  practice.  Within  the  last  fifty  years,  the 
common  law  has  embraced  a  considerable  portion  of 
equity  jurisdiction. 

In  England,  the  common  law  has  grown  with  the 
growth  of  the  nation,  in  arts,  and  arms,  in  religion,  mo- 
rals, science,  literature,  and  civilization.  The  English 
common  law  was  rude  and  scanty  in  its  origin ;  contain- 
ing a  few  imperfect  regulations,  respecting  person  and 
property,  under  the  Anglo-Saxon  arid  Danish  dynasties; 
at  the  Norman  conquest  it  embraced  the  feudal  law,  in 
relation  to  real  property ;  afterward  it  incorporated  the 
civil  law,  with  regard  to  personal  property.  In  the  pro^ 
gress  of  its  growth,  it  received  within  its  capacious  bo- 
som the  commercial  law ;  and  lastly,  has  girded  within 
its  immeasurable  belt,  the  whole  system  of  internationaj 


284  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

law,  which  connects  together  in  the  bonds  of  social  in- 
tercourse all  the  inhabitants  of  the  civilized  world. 
The  criminal  law  of  England  is  in  part  Saxon,  Danish, 
and  Norman,  much  modified  by  subsequent  statutes. 
The  European  codes  generally  are  similar  in  their  ori- 
gin, and  in  much  of  their  progress.  Thus  the  English, 
Welsh,  Scottish,  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  German,  Da- 
nish, and  Swedish  codes,  reflect  mutual  light  upon  each 
other,  in  all  the  essential  points  of  their  respective  juri- 
dical systems.  This  is  so  much  the  case  between  those 
of  France  and  England,  that  the  best  illustrations  of  the 
ancient  French  code  are  to  be  found  in  the  earlier  law 
Writers  of  England ;  and  the  best  commentary  upon  the 
old  English  law,  exists  in  the  writings  of  the  elder  French 
jurists. 

Some  of  the  most  distinguished  of  our  American  ju- 
rists, are  divided  in  opinion,  respecting  the  introduction 
of  the  common  law  of  England  into,  and  its  authority 
within,  the  United  States.  On  one  side,  it  is  contended 
that  the  English  common  law  is  the  unwritten  law  of 
the  United  States,  in  their  national  or  federal  capacity; 
and  that  the  common  law  of  the  separate  States  remains 
the  same  as  before  the  revolution.  While  on  the  other 
side,  it  is  urged,  that  no  common  law  exists  in  the  courts 
of  the  United  States,  but  their  whole  range  is  confined 
to  taking  cognizance  of,  and  expounding  the  American 
Constitutions,  the  acts  of  Congress,  and  treaties  between 
the  United  States  and  foreign  powers.  It  is,  however, 
admitted  on  all  sides,  that  the  common  law  of  England, 
as  it  existed  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution,  has 
been  incorporated  into  all  the  separate  States,  as  the  ba- 
sis of  their  municipal  law;  subject,  of  course,  to  the  con- 
trol and  modification  of  legislative  provisions. 

Some  of  the  principal  differences,  at  present  existing 
between  the  American  and  English  law,  are,  that  our 
municipal  code  tends  to  scatter  real  property,  at  the 
death  of  every  head  of  a  family,  whereas  that  of  Eng- 
land, by  the  common  law  of  descent,  the  statute  of  en- 
tails, and  the  custom  of  strict  marriage  settlements, 
tends  to  accumulate  and  perpetuate  family  property, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNIT  ED  STATES.  285 

Jn  the  distribution  of  personal  property,  the  American 
follows  the  English,  which  is  derived  from  the.  civil  law. 
Our  criminal  code  is  much  milder  than  that  of  England, 
which  is  too  severe,  and  encourages  crime,  by  the  uncer- 
tainty of  punishment ;  while  we  augment  crime  by  the 
inadequacy  of  punishment  to  such  a  degree,  as  to  keep 
our  state-prisons  generally  full,  besides  a  continually  in- 
creasing body  of  pardoned  criminals,  let  loose  to  prej 
upon  the  public.  The  courts  of  the  United  States,  al- 
though they  disavow  any  binding  authority  in  the  Eng- 
lish common  law  upon  them,  yet  in  fact  expound  their 
legal  questions,  whether  civil  or  criminal,  upon  common 
law  principles. 

Upon  the  whole,  then,  the  best  groundwork  for  the 
earlier  studies  of  the  English  and  American  jurists,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  diligent  perusal  of  Judge  Blackstone's 
commentaries,  as  containing  an  admirable  outline  of 
English  law,  both  civil  and  criminal ;  and  then  the  insti- 
tutes of  Justinian,  because  the  legal  provisions  respect- 
ing personal  property,  both  here  and  in  England,  are 
almost  entirely  derived  from  the  Roman  code.  The 
late  General  Hamilton  used  to  say,  that  he  had  learned 
more  of  the  elements  and  principles  of  jurisprudence, 
as  a  science,  from  the  study  of  mis,  than  of  any  other 
work.  Next  in  order,  should  be  read  the  Book  of 
Feuds,  because  the  English  law  of  real  property  is  de- 
rived from  the  feudal  system,  and  that  of  America,  (with 
some  statute  modifications)  from  the  English  law.  Then 
Beawes's  Lex  Mercatoria  will  give  an  acquaintance 
with  commercial  law,  as  an  essential  part  of  the  com- 
mon law;  and  Vattel  presents  a  brief  outline  of  the 
law  of  nations,  which  also  constitutes  an  integral  por- 
tion of  the  common  law.  A  work  on  national  law,  em- 
bracing the  questions  decided  since  the  time  of  Vattel, 
is  much  wanted.  At  present,  only  a  few  miscellaneous 
observations  can  be  made  on  some  of  the  defects  in  our 
juridical  system,  which  have  been  partly  borrowed  from 
England,  and  are  in  part  weeds  of  our  own  growth. 

In  England,  individual  subjects,  to  whom  the  sove- 
reign IB  indebted,  have  a  remedy  in  the  King's  own 


286  RESOURCES  9F  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

courts,  by  a  petition  of  right ;  whereas,  in  the  United, 
and  separate  States,  every  part  of  the  English  common 
law  relating  to  the  sovereign,  was  abolished  by  the  re- 
volution, which  fixed  the  sovereignty  in  the  American 
people.  And  our  courts  only  possess  so  much  judicial 
power,  as  is  given  by  Constitution  and  statute,  neither 
of  which  gives  an  action  at  the  suit  of  an  individual 
against  a  State,  or  against  the  United  States.  Whence 
a  creditor,  whether  of  a  separate  State,  or  of  the  United 
States,  has  no  other  remedy,  than  to  petition  the  legis- 
lature to  make  a  money  appropriation  to  the  amount  of 
the  debt  due  to  him ;  which  is  a  very  precarious  reme- 
dy, as  appears  from  the  fate  of  so  many  petitions  to 
Congress,  and  the  State  legislatures,  by  claimants  on 
the  score  of  revolutionary  services,  during  that  war 
which  gave  national  independence  and  sovereignty  to 
the  United  States.  There  is  no  legal  mode  of  compel- 
ling any  one  of  our  States  to  pay  its  just  debts,  whether 
due  to  its  own  citizens,  or  the  citizens  of  other  States, 
or  the  subjects  of  a  foreign  sovereign.  Nay,  if  a  State 
violates  a  treaty  or  an  act  of  Congress,  or  any  of  the 
provisions  of  the  Federal  Constitution ;  there  is  no  le- 
gal remedy,  because  the  separate  States  are  not  amen- 
able to  the  judicial  authority  of  the  United  States. 

The  laws  in  this  country  generally  favour  the  debtor 
at  the  expense  of  the  creditor,  and  so  far  encourage 
dishonesty.  The  number  of  insolvents,  in  every  State, 
is  prodigious,  and  continually  increasing.  They  very 
seldom  pay  any  part  of  their  debts,  but  get  discharged 
by  the  State  insolvent  acts  with  great  facility,  and  se- 
crete what  property  they  please  for  their  own  use, 
without  the  creditor's  being  able  to  touch  a  single  stiver. 
There  is  no  bankrupt  law  in  the  United  States,  and  no 
appeal  in  these  matters  from  the  State  to  the  Federal 
courts;  whence,  in  every  State,  the  insolvent  acts  ope- 
rate as  a  general  jail  delivery  of  all  debtors,  and  a  per- 
manent scheme,  by  which  creditors  are  defrauded  of 
their  property.  The  British  merchants  and  manufac- 
turers who  have  trusted  our  people,  doubtless  under- 
stand this. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  287 

Throughout  the  separate  States,  whatever  may  be 
the  mode  of  appointing  or  the  official  tenure  of  the 
superior  judges,  the  justices  and  judges  of  the  common 
pleas  and  other  inferior  courts  are  generally  appointed 
during  pleasure,  and  receive  their  income  from  the  fees 
of  office;  whence  litigation  is  grievously  encouraged 
among  the  poorer  classes  of  the  community,  and  a  hor- 
rible perversion  of  justice  corrupts  the  whole  body  of 
the  commonwealth. 

The  United  and  separate  States  have  transcribed 
into  their  statute  book  the  English  laws  against  usury. 
All  the  best  political  philosophers  unite  in  condemning 
any  legislative  interference  with  the  rate  of  interest  for 
the  use  of  money;  see  Dr.  Adam  Smith,  Mr.  Hume, 
Sir  James  Stuart,  and  particularly  Mr.  Bentham,  who 
demonstrates  the  absurdity  and  mischief  of  all  usury 
laws  most  conclusively  and  forcibly.  A  single  fact  is 
sufficient  to  prove  their  inutility  and  folly  ;  namely,  that 
the  legal  always  differs  from  the  market  rate  of  interest. 
In  countries  abounding  with  capital,  the  legal  is  above, 
in  those  deficient  in  capital  it  is  below  the  market 

Erice.  For  example,  in  England,  at  this  moment,  the 
jgal  rate  of  interest  is  five  per  cent.,  the  market  price 
only  three ;  in  the  United  States  the  average  legal  rate 
is  six  per  cent.,  and  the  market  price  varies  from  ten  to 
twenty  per  cent.,  according  to  the  rapacity  of  the  lender, 
and  the  exigency  of  the  borrower.  In  Hamburgh,  where 
there  is  no  usury  law,  the  rate  of  interest  is  lower,  in 
proportion  to  its  capital,  than  if  such  law  existed,  be- 
cause no  premium  is  required  for  breaking  it. 

Some  of  our  States,  particularly  that  of  New- York, 
have  borrowed  the  English  system  of  poor  laws.  Now, 
whether  we  adopt  the  theory  of  population  laid  down 
by  Mr.  Malthus,  or  that  more  recently  urged  by  Mr. 
Wieland,  both  of  whom  exhibit  great  talent,  and  a  most 
instructive  display  of  facts  in  support  of  their  respective 
propositions,  we  must  be  compelled  to  admit,  tnat  the 
poor  laws  of  England  are  an  awful  evil  to  that  country; 
that  they  increase  ,the  indigence  which  they  profess  to 
relieve,  and  enormously  augment  the  vice,  misery,  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

degradation  of  the  great  mass  of  the  English  people. 
Whoever  wishes  to  see  the  details  upon  this  subject, 
may  consult  the  discussions  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
ajid  the  Reports  on  Mendicity,  lately  published  in  Lon- 
don; and  the  causes  of  the  system  producing  such  per- 
nicious effects  are  unfolded  with  great  force  and  clear- 
ness by  Mr.  Malthus,  in  his  Essay  on  Population. 

As  yet,  on  account  of  their  extensive  territory,  com- 
paratively thin  population,  high  wages  of  labour,  abun- 
dance of  employment  and  sustenance,  the  United  States 
do  not  suffer  so  much  from  the  system  of  poor  laws 
as  England.  But,  as  far  as  they  go,  they  produce  sub- 
stantial evil  unmingled  with  any  good.  In  this  city  of 
New- York,  for  instance,  it  appears,  from  a  memorial 
addressed  to  our  State  legislature,  in  the  month  of 
March,  1817,  that,  during  the  last  winter,  fifteen  thou- 
sand paupers,  that  is  to  say,  about  a  seventh  of  our  whole 
population,  received  alms.  For  several  years  past  the 
numbers  of  our  poor  have  been  increasing,  and  have 
been  attended  with  a  corresponding  augmentation  of 
profligacy  and  crime.  When  the  Superintendants  of 
the  New-York  Sunday  School  Union  Society,  in  the 
spring  of  1816,  first  engaged  in  their  labours  of  love,  to 
reclaim  the  children  of  poverty,  idleness,  and  vice,  from 
the  .error  of  their  ways  to  the  wisdom  of  the  just,  they 
found  the  streets  of  the  city  and  the  habitations  of  the 
poor  one  living  spectacle  of  intoxication.  They  were 
shocked  lo  see  the  squalid  misery,  the  loathsome  dis- 
ease, and  still  more  loathsome  moral  deformity  of  infan- 
cy, youth,  manhood,  and  age ;  all  occasioned  by  the 
habitual  use  of  ardent  spirits  among  the  poor,  without 
distinction  of  sex  or  years.  It  is  but  the  tribute  of  jus- 
tice to  the  merits  of  those  estimable  men,  to  declare, 
that  their  remonstrances  and  efforts  in  the  sacred  cause 
which  they  have  espoused  with  so  much  zeal,  charityr 
wisdom,  and  perseverance,  have  somewhat  diminished 
this  horrible  vice,  as  well  as  lessened  the  profanation  of 
the  Sabbath. 

It  is  surely  needless  to  expatiate  on  a  fact  established 
by  the  experience  of  all  history :  namely,  that  whenever 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  039 

the  lower  orders  of  the  community  are  generally  cor- 
rupted in  their  mprals,  the  death  warrant  of  their  civil 
and  religious  liberties  is  already  signed.  And,  if  such 
an  event  has  uniformly  taken  place  in  the  governments 
of  the  old  world,  where  the  people  are  not  suffered  to 
exercise  any  great  share  of  political  power,  or  enjoy  any 
great  portion  of  political  rights  and  privileges,  how  much 
more  certain  and  speedy  must  be  the  desolation  in  the 
United  States,  all  of  whose  governments  have  their 
foundations  laid  broad  and  deep  in  the  popular  sove- 
reignty, and  all  of  whose  institutions  rest,  ultimately, 
upon  the  basis  of  popular  opinion  ?  It  requires  no  pro- 
phetic inspiration  to  foretell  the  rapid  dissolution  of  a 
government,  planted  in  the  soil  of  universal  suffrage, 
when  once  its  electors  have  become  deaf  to  the  calls  of 
duty  by  the  long-continued  habit  of  iniquity,  and  when 
the  mere  sale  of  their  votes  to  the  highest  bidder  may 
be  considered  as  one  of  the  least  dark  in  the  long  cata- 
logue of  their  accustomed  crimes. 

The  chief  cause  of  the  degradation  and  misery  of  our 
paupers,  doubtless,  is  to  be  found  in  that  system  of  poor 
laws  which  we  have  faithfully  transcribed  from  the 
English  statute  book  into  our  own  legal  code — a  sys- 
tem by  which  the  English  poor  have  been  materially 
injured  in  their  morals,  their  habits  of  industry,  their 
sense  of  character,  in  all  that  contributes  to  give 
strength  and  permanency  to  national  prosperity ;  a  sys- 
tem first  adopted  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  since 
that  time  swollen,  by  successive  statutes  and  innumera- 
ble judicial  decisions,  into  a  voluminous  and  frightful 
code.  The  same  causes  invariably  produce  the  same 
effects,  when  applied  to  the  same  circumstances ;  and 
therefore,  although  at  present  owing  to  our  thin  po- 
pulation, abundance  of  wages,  provisions,  and  work, 
and  the  small  public  expenditure,  the  burden  of  the 
poor  rates  does  not  press  with  so  very  alarming  a 
weight,  yet  it  is  an  evil  in  perpetual  progression,  and 
will  continue  to  eat  into  and  gangrene  the  life  organs 
of  the  commonwealth,  precisely  in  proportion  as  the 
people  shall  continue  to  augment  in  number,  and  agri- 

37 


290  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

culture,  trade,  and  manufactures  continue  to  swell  the 
tide  of  individual  wealth.  Such  has  been  the  progress 
of  this  system  in  England,  and  such  must  be  its  course 
in  the  United  States,  unless  the  legislature,  in  its  wis- 
dom and  mercy,  see  fit  to  annihilate  or  alter  the  whole 
code  of  poor  laws. 

Man  is  by  nature  an  idle  animal;  and  generally  speak- 
ing, shrinks  from  labour,  unless  impelled  by  necessity. 
But  the  poor  law  system  takes  away  this  universal  im- 
pulse to  industry,  by  relieving  all  the  needy  that  apply 
for  help ;  thus,  in  fact,  encouraging  that  very  idleness, 
which  is  the  original  and  hereditary  sin  of  our  common 
nature.  Nor  is  idleness  ever  a  solitary  vice;  it  leads 
almost  of  necessity  its  votaries  to  intemperance,  fraud, 
theft,  and  those  still  more  atrocious  crimes,  which  shake 
the  foundations  of  human  society.  The  Spanish  pro- 
verb is,  "  the  devil  tempts  other  people,  but  idle  people 
tempt  the  devil."  If  the  Spaniards  would  profit  by  the 
good  sense  of  their  own  proverb,  they  would  soon  ex- 
hibit a  beautiful  and  splendid  contrast  to  the  midnight 
darkness  of  sloth  and  slavery,  which  now  enshrouds  their 
religious  sentiments,  their  political  opinions,  their  public 
liberty,  their  individual  enterprise.  The  legislature  of 
this  country,  and  more  particularly  of  our  own  State, 
is  called  upon  by  the  voice  of  duty,  as  they  regard  the 
welfare  of  the  people  committed  to  their  charge,  to 
check  the  growth  01  an  evil,  whose  unchecked  progress, 
must  eventually  convert  the  great  mass  of  our  commu- 
nity into  idle,  intemperate,  profligate  beings ;  and  through 
their  instrumentality,  consign  our  civil  and  religious  liber- 
ties, our  political  and  social  institutions,  the  pride  and 
ornament  of  an  enlightened  age ;  our  private  consola- 
tions, and  public  defences ;  the  incentives  to  exertion, 
the  light  of  hope,  and  the  love  of  life,  to  the  silence  and 
forgetfulness  of  the  sepulchre. 

I  cannot  close  this  very  slight  summary  of  a  few  of 
the  defects  of  our  legal  system,  without  noticing  the  ra- 
dically imperfect  organization  of  our  New-York  court  of 
errors,  which  cannot  be  done  better  than  in  the  words 
of  Mr.  Platt,  now  one  of  the  judges  of  our  supreme 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  291 

court,  but  sitting  as  a  Senator  of  our  State,  when  he 
made  the  following  observations,  respecting  our  highest 
judicial  tribunal. 

The  New-York  State  Constitution  provides,  that  a 
court  for  the  trial  of  impeachments,  and  correction  of 
errors,  shall  consist  of  the  President  of  the  Senate,  the 
Senators,  Chancellor,  and  Judges  of  the  supreme  court, 
or  the  majority  of  them.     "I  cannot  admit,"  says  Mr. 
Justice  Platt,  "  the  doctrine  of  immutability  in  the  de- 
cisions of  this  court,  to  the  unqualified  extent  claimed 
by  the  plaintiff's  counsel.     The  decisions  of  courts  are 
not  the  law,  but  only  evidence  of  law.     And  this  evidence 
is  stronger  or  weaker,  according  to  the  number  and 
uniformity  of  adjudications,  the  unanimity  or  dissension 
of  the  judges,  the  solidity  of  the  reasons  on  which  the 
decisions  are  founded,  and  the  perspicuity  and  precision 
with  which  those  reasons  are  expressed.     The  weight 
and  authority  of  judicial  decisions,  depend  also  on  the 
character  and  temper  of  the  times  in  which  they  are 
pronounced.     An  adjudication  at  a  moment,  when  tur- 
bulent passions,  or  revolutionary  phrensies  prevail,  de- 
serves much  less  respect,  than  if  it  were  made  at  a  sea- 
son propitious  to  impartial  inquiry  and  calm  deliberation. 
The  peculiar  organization   and   practice  of  this  court, 
render  it  difficult  to  establish  a  system  of  precedents. 
In  the  Supreme  Court,  the  judges  confer  together,  com- 
pare opinions,  weigh  each  other's  reasons,   and  elicit 
light  from  each  other.     If  they  agree,  one  is  usually  de- 
legated by  the  others,  not  only  to  pronounce  judgment, 
but  to  assign  reasons  for  the  whole  bench.     But  even 
in  that  court,  and  in  the  courts  of  Westminster-Hall, 
the  judges  who  silently  acquiesce  in  the  result,  do  not 
consider  themselves  bound  to  recognize  as  law,  all  the 
dicta  of  the  judge  who  delivers  the  opinion  of  the  court. 
In  this  Court  of  Errors,  the  members  never  hold  any 
previous  consultation  together;  we  vote  for  the  most 
part,  as  in  our  kgislative  capacity.     Few  assign  any 
reasons,  and  fewer  still  give  written  opinions,  which  may 
be  reported.     For  these  reasons,  I  think  it  would  be 
extravagant  and  dangerous  to  consider  the  dicta  and 


292  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

opinions  of  a  single  member,  as  settling  definitively  the 
law  of  the  land,  on  all  the  points  on  which  he  chooses  to 
give  opinions,  or  to  assign  reasons." 

The  House  of  Lords,  in  England,  in  relation  to  its 
being  the  highest  legal  tribunal  in  the  empire,  is  liable 
to  nearly  the  same  objections  which  Mr.  Justice  Platt 
urges  against  the  Court  of  Errors,  in  this  State.  But 
in  England,  on  every  question  of  law,  the  peers,  both 
clerical  and  lay,  are  in  the  habit  of  trusting  implicitly  to 
the  opinions  of  the  twelve  judges ;  whereas,  in  New- 
York,  our  judges  have  not  always  the  weight  in  the  de- 
cisions of  the  Court  of  Errors  which  their  acknowledg- 
ed talents  and  learning  ought,  in  all  places,  to  command. 
It  would  be  exceedingly  beneficial  to  this  State,  if  a 
convention  of  the  people  were  called,  for  the  purpose 
of  altering  the  Constitution,  at  least  in  three  particulars; 
namely,  constituting  a  Court  of  Errors  entirely  of  legal 
characters ;  abolishing  the  limitation  as  to  age,  in  the 
official  tenure  of  our  judges ;  and  annihilating  the  Coun- 

•J  O  O 

cil  of  Appointment,  that  our  Governor  might  be  a  single, 
responsible,  executive  magistrate. 

it  is  a  common  complaint,  that  the  American  bar  is 
overstocked.  With  what  ? — with  talent  and  learning  ? 
This,  I  believe,  is  not  asserted,  and  would  be  difficult  to 
demonstrate ;  since  no  community,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
can  be  so  overstocked,  because  native  talent  is  a  plant 
of  rare  growth,  and  still  rarer  cultivation,  in  every  age 
and  country.  But  our  bar  is  overstocked  with  numbers. 
Grant  the  fact,  and  ask  if  talent  and  learning  have  any 
thing  to  fear  from  unnumbered  combinations  of  dulness 
and  ignorance.  Can  mere  numbers  of  persons,  who 
either  neglect  to  exercise  their  understandings,  or  who 
have  no  minds  to  exercise,  stop  the  progress  of  the 
combined  force  of  talent,  industry,  and  learning,  in  a 
profession  where  success  so  mainly  depends  upon  the 
public  display  of  genius  and  knowledge  ?  Did  the 
shades  of  Tartarus,  the  unsubstantial  forms  that  hover- 
ed round  his  path,  impede  for  a  moment  the  march  of 
iEneas  onward  to  Elysium  ? 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


293 


Whether  or  not  our  bar  be  overstocked  with  num- 
bers, I  am  ignorant,  having  no  data  on  which  to  calcu- 
late with  any  degree  of  certainty  and  precision,  if  the 
annual  increase  of  lawyers  averages  a  greater  propor- 
tion than  it  ought  to  bear  to  the  yearly  augmentation  of 
wealth  and  population  in  the  United  States.  But  if  the 
bar  be,  at  present,  overstocked  with  numbers,  it  is  of  no 
importance.  It  is  merely  a  local  and  temporary  incon- 
venience, which,  when  left  to  itself,  will  soon  find  its 
own  remedy.  For  the  quantity  of  every  commodity 
always  suits  itself,  ultimately,  to  the  effectual  demand 
of  the  existing  market.  Apply  this  doctrine  to  the  law, 
and  lawyers,  and  there  need  be  no  alarm  as  to  the  con- 
sequences of  an  excessive  influx  of  students.  If  the  bar 
be  understocked,  the  practice  of  its  members  will  be 
so  abundant  and  lucrative,  as  to  offer  a  high  bounty  for 
an  immediate  supply  of  new  recruits.  If  it  be  over- 
stocked, the  practice  will  be  so  monopolized  by  its  abler 
sons,  as  to  speak  to  the  less  efficient  barristers  in  the 
very  intelligible  language  of  nakedness  and  hunger,  that 
the  bar  is  no  place  for  them ;  that  it  opens  no  market 
for  the  vent  of  their  wares ;  that  its  cardinal  pillars  are 
not  ignorance  and  idleness ;  that  its  walls  are  not  to  be 
buttressed  up  by  dulness  and  impudence ;  and  that  they, 
therefore,  must  betake  themselves  to  some  employ- 
ment more  congenial  to  their  nature  and  acquisitions, 
than  a  calling  which  requires  the  combination  of  na- 
tive talent,  with  patient  and  persevering  industry. 

At  all  events,  talent  and  industry  need  never  be 
terrified  from  jhe  pursuits  of  law ;  since,  by  the  very  na- 
ture and  condition  of  men  and  things,  there  never  can  be  an 
overstock  of  diligence  and  capacity  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth;  and  since  they,  when  directed  by  prudence  and 
discretion,  cannot  fail  of  commanding  success  and  honour 
in  every  walk  of  life,  and  in  none  more  certainly  and 
more  splendidly  than  the  bar.  Whichever  political  party 
be  uppermost  in  the  United  States,  the  lawyers  govern 
the  country :  they  possess  more  influence,  and  exercise 
more  power  than  any  other  power;  they  are  emphati- 
cally the  men  of  business,  and  as  we  have  no  separate 


294  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

corps  of  professional  politicians,  they  engross  nearly  all 
the  high  offices  of  state,  whether  at  home  or  abroad. 
With  the  exception  of  General  Washington,  every  Pre- 
sident of  the  United  States  has  been  a  lawyer;  and, 
without  any  exception,  all  our  ablest  diplomatists  have 
been  selected  from  the  same  profession. 

The  American  bar  always  commands  a  full  share  of 
the  great  talent  of  the  country;  indeed,  it  ought  and  it 
does  exhibit,  in  proportion  to  our  whole  population,  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  British  isles,  a  larger  aggre- 
gate display  of  intellect  than  is  manifested  by  that  of 
the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
For,  in  the  United  States,  there  is  no  other  general  out- 
let for  the  first-rate  talent  than  the  profession  of  the 
law.  The  nature  of  their  political  institutions  forbids 
any  hope  of  their  statesmen  ever  acquiring  any  perma- 
nent power  or  extensive  wealth  and  influence  in  the 
community,  and,  consequently,  offers  no  adequate  in- 
ducement for  the  primary  talents  of  the  country  to  de- 
vote themselves  exclusively  to  a  life  of  politics ;  whence 
the  state  seldom  or  never  commands  for  her  permanent 
service  the  first-rate  abilities  of  her  children.  The  pul- 
pits of  America  are  not  sufficiently  cherished  by  the 
national  or  State  governments,  nor  sufficiently  encou- 
raged by  public  opinion,  nor  remunerated  by  a  suffi- 
ciently ample  compensation,  to  offer  an  adequate  bounty 
to  the  highest  order  of  talent.  The  navy  and  army  of 
the  United  States  have  not  yet  grown  up  to  a  sufficient 
size  and  extent  to  vindicate  to  themselves  the  employ- 
ment of  any  very  great  proportion  of  the  first  rank  of 
American  genius.  These  two  illustrious  professions 
must  experience  many  years  of  much  more  active  and 
comprehensive  service  than  they  have  ever  yet  seen, 
before  they  can  allure  to  their  paths  of  peril  and  glory 
their  due  proportion  of  the  dominant  mind  of  their 
country. 

And  in  no  community  has  trade  or  manufacture,  the 
plough  or  the  loom,  taken  to  itself,  permanently,  the  ex- 
ertions of  very  commanding  abilities.  If  time  and 
chance  cast  primary  native  genius  into  either  of  these 


"RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATED  295 

occupations,  after  a  few  desperate  struggles  of  agony  it 
cither  seeks  refuge  in  the  tomb,  or,  bursting  asunder  the 
bonds  of  its  condition,  springs  upward  into  a  region  of 
intellect  more  fitted  to  its  inclination  and  capacity. 
The  bar  then  is  the  great,  the  almost  only  repository  of 
all  the  highest  talents  produced  and  reared  in  these 
United  States.  And  the  primary  native  genius  of  this 
extensive  country,  throughout  all  its  separate  State 
sovereignties,  rushes  onward  to  the  legal  standard,  as 
offering  the  highest  inducements  of  reputation,  wealth, 
influence,  authority,  and  power,  that  the  commonwealth, 
in  its  present  circumstances,  can  give. 

But  in  Britain,  her  political  institutions,  her  local  si- 
tuation, the  circumstances  of  Europe,  the  condition  of 
the  whole  world  during  the  last  fifty  years,  have  all 
conspired  to  force  her  primary  talents  into  the  service 
of  her  parliament,  her  executive  cabinet,  her  army, 
navy,  church,  colonial  governments,  and  diplomatic 
squadrons ;  while  her  bar  has  been  left  to  explore  the 
mazy  labyrinths  of  jurisprudence  by  the  feebler  lights 
of  secondary  minds.  Tne  time  has  been,  indeed,  when 
she  availed  herself  of  her  first-rate  capacities  in  the  la- 
bours of  the  law.  She  has  seen  Bacon,  and  Hale,  and 
Hardwicke,  and  Mansfield,  strengthen,  illumine,  and 
dignify  her  seats  of  justice.  But  that  was  a  period 
when  these  great  master-spirits  were  wanted  to  build 
up  and  cope  in,  to  the  fulness  of  perfection,  her  juridical 
system;  to  reduce  the  decisions  of  her  various  courts  of 
equity  and  law  to  one  uniform  level  of  wisdom,  justice, 
and  certainty  throughout  all  the  reach  of  her  extended 
empire.  It  was  also,  at  a  time,  when  her  political  cir- 
cumstances permitted  her  to  spare  a  large  portion  of 
her  primary  talent  to  rear  the  infancy  and  establish  the 
manhood  of  her  legal  system. 

But  for  the  last  fifty  years,  including  the  two  great 
revolutions  of  America  and  France,  so  severe  and  un- 
remitting has  been  the  political  pressure  of  England, 
that  she  has  been  compelled  to  pour  out  nearly  all  her 
first-rate  intellect  over  the  whole  of  her  extensive  do- 
minions, in  her  naval,  military,  and  civil  departments. 


295  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

And  consequently,  as  primary  talent  is  never  profusely 
dispensed  in  any  age  or  country,  she  has  been  scarcely 
able  to  spare  any  of  it  permanently  to  the  service  of  the 
bar;  but  the  moment  she  has  discovered  it  to  have  acci- 
dentally strayed  into  the  precincts  of  the  forum,  she  has 
immediately  called  it  thence  into  the  upper  regions  of 
the  State;  as  she  did  her  Burke,  her  Pitt,  her  Gren- 
ville,  her  Canning,  and  her  Brougham.  Whence  as 
native  genius  is  equally  distributed  over  all  the  nations 
and  sections  of  the  earth,  and  differs  only  in  different 
countries,  in  its  developement  and  display,  according  to 
the  circumstances  in  which  it  is  placed;  and  as  the 
American  bar  employs  the  first-rate  talent  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  British  bar  uses  only  the  secondary  ca- 
pacities of  Britain,  it  follows,  that  the  American  bar 
must  average  a  greater  intellectual  power,  than  is  exhi- 
bited in  the  British  forum;  which  is  undoubtedly  the  fact ', 
more  especially  in  extemporaneous  public  speaking. 

The  author  of  "  Inchiquin,  a  Jesuit's  Letters,"  makes 
some  spirited  and  eloquent  observations  on  the  compa- 
rative merits  of  American  and  British  oratory,  and  gives 
a  decided  preference  to  that  of  the  United  States,  par- 
ticularly in  forensic  speaking.  He  allows  the  English 
to  be  good  reasoners,  chaste  writers,  and  classical  scho- 
lars, but  by  no  means  equal  to  the  Americans  in  extem- 
poraneous elocution.  The  English  pulpit,  he  says 
is  learned,  didactic,  phlegmatic,  and  never  eloquent: 
the  English  bar,  addicted  to  a  bad  style,  and  ungraceful 
elocution ;  and  in  Parliament,  sober  reasoning  prevails 
over  imagination  and  rhetoric.  Chatham  and  Burke,  ht 
allows,  and  Sheridan  he  is  inclined  to  admit,  as  orators; 
but  they  are  the  only  orators  which  Britain  has  produ- 
ced. The  few  others  who  were  eminent,  for  instance, 
Pitt  and  Fox,  were  nothing  more  than  adroit  debaters 
and  the  great  body  of  public  speakers  in  parliament,  at 
the  bar,  and  from  the  pulpit,  with  great  good  sense, 
and  extensive  acquirements,  are  deficient  in  all  the  pro- 
perties of  eloquence.  To  Ireland  the  palm  of  modern 
oratory  is  awarded,  and  Burke,  Sheridan,  Curran,  and 
Grattan,  held  up  as  bright  examples.  A  doubt  is  ex- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  297 

pressed,  if  the  United  States  have  yet  produced  a  Chat- 
ham, or  a  Burke ;  and  an  opinion  declared  that  our  best 
speakers  want  the  finish  of  oratory ;  but  it  is  confidently 
asserted,  that  the  Americans  surpass  all  other  nations  in 
aptitude  for  public  speaking,  and  in  flights  of  bold,  vigo- 
rous, and  beautiful  eloquence.  In  their  public  bodies, 
in  Congress,  the  State  assemblies, .  the  bar  of  the  seve- 
ral States,  and  their  numerous  political  arid  academic 
associations,  there  is  a  much  greater  number  of  agree- 
able speakers,  than  in  the  similar  assemblies  of  Great 
Britain. 

These  observations  of  Inchiquin  have  been  conden- 
sed for  the  sake  of  brevity,  but  the  whole  substance  is 
preserved,  and  the  reader  is  recommended  to  peruse  the 
original,  which  abounds  in  spirited  eloquence,  and  pow- 
erful efforts  to  vindicate  the  literary  arid  national  charac- 
ter of  the  United  States,  from  the  aspersions  so  liberally 
bestowed  upon  them  by  Europeans.  The  preceding 
observations  of  Inchiquin,  however,  require  a  little  mo- 
dification. It  appears  somewhat  sublimated,  to  exalt 
the  public  speaking  in  Congress,  and  the  several  State 
legislatures,  so  far  above  that  of  the  British  Senate; 
whose  superior  eloquence  is  almost  necessarily  implied 
in  the  fact,  that  the  tirst-rate  talent  of  England,  con- 
stantly directs  and  adorns  her  parliament;  whereas,  the 
primary  capacity  of  the  United  States,  too  seldom  finds 
its  way  into  Congress  and  the  State  legislatures,  owing 
to  the  causes  already  mentioned,  and  also  to  the  consti- 
tutional exclusion  of  all  office-holders  from  a  legislative 
seat.  And  it  must  always  be  pretty  much  a  matter  of 
course,  for  the  ablest  men  of  every  dominant  party  to 
lay  their  own  hands  upon,  and  place  under  their  own 
immediate  guidance  and  control,  the  great  offices  of  the 
executive  government.  Whence,  consequently,  in  the 
ordinary  current  of  events,  only  the  eloquence  of  the 
secondary  men  of  that  prevailing  party  at  least,  can  be 
heard  on  the  deliberative  floor,  whether  of  Congress, 
or  of  the  twenty  separate  State  legislatures. 

It  is  rather  extraordinary  that  Inchiquin  should  deny 
the  meed  of  eloquence  to  Pitt  and  Fox :  and  consider 

38 


298  RESOURCES  OF  THE  tiNITED  STATfcs. 

them,  in  common  with  other  parliamentary  speakers, 
only  as  "  adroit  debaters."  Nor  is  it  less  surprising  to 
assert,  that  "there  are  no  orators  now  in  the  British 
Senate."  What  possible  definition  of  an  orator  can  be 
given  that  shall  exclude  the  names  of  Canning,  Wellesley, 
M'lntosh,  Grenville,  Grey,  Brougham,  Lansdowne, 
Peel,  an8  many  others  ? 

The  pulpit  of  Britain,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  almost 
entirely  destitute  of  pure  eloquence,  the  poetic  part  of 
oratory,  ardour  of  imagination,  richness  of  sentiment, 
energetic  and  Splendid  expression.  In  speaking  of  the 
sermons  of  England,  reference  is  chiefly  made  to  writ- 
ten discourses,  because  her  extemporaneous  preachers 
generally  lose  as  much  in  elegance  and  connexion  as 
they  gain  in  vivacity  and  vigour;  on  account  of  their 
too  little  previous  preparation  for  their  pulpit  exercises. 
The  sermons  of  England  are  generally  characterized  by 
purity  of  style,  correct  and  luminous  reasoning,  simple 
and  temperate  elegance.  But  they  seldom,  if  ever,  aim 
at  exciting  or  controlling  the  great  master-passions  of  the 
heart;  nor  do  they  often  reach  the  higher  flights  of  that 
eloquence,  which,  by  producing  strong  and  permanent 
emotions,  triumphs  over  the  judgment,  and  chains  cap- 
tive the  will  of  the  audience. 

It  must  also  be  acknowledged,  that  the  British  bar 
generally  pleads  guilty  to  the  charge  urged  against  it, 
so  severely  and  peremptorily  by  the  Jesuit.  Yet,  with- 
in the  memory  of  man,  that  bar  has  been  led  by  Mans- 
field, Thurlow,  and  Wedderburne,  tjiree  illustrious 
lawyers,  who  were  equalled  by  few,  and  surpassed  by 
none  in  compass  and  variety  of  wisdom  and  eloquence. 
And  even  now,  in  her  day  of  secondary  lawyers,  the 
honour  of  her  bar  has  been  conducted  to  perfection  by 
Lord  Erskine^s  felicitous  combination  of  profound  legal 
reasoning,  with  splendid  eloquence.  Perhaps,  it  is  not 
going  too  far  to  say,  that  Erskine's  Speeches,  already 
published,  are  the  most  finished  specimens  of  bar  oratory 
that  any  age  or  country  has  produced.  This  must  be 
understood,  in  relation  to  the  marked  distinction  between 
the  forensic  and  parliamentary  orations  of  Demosthenes 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  299 

and  Cicero ;  whose  bar  speeches  are  not  equal  to  those 
of  Erskine ;  although  there  is  no  assignable  proportion 
between  his  parliamentary  effusions  and  the  legislative 
energy  of  the  Greek,  or  the  senatorial  majesty  of  the 
Roman  orator. 

He  who  speaks  more  than  is  necessary,  on  any  public 
occasion,  makes  his  speaking  an  end;  whereas  he  who 
only  speaks  enough,  and  then  ceases,  uses  his  eloquence 
as  the  means  of  obtaining  some  ulterior  end,  some  greater 
object ;  and  is  the  more  effective  practical  being.  Julius 
CaBsar  always  said  enough ;  but  Cicero,  sometimes,  said 
more,  and  was  borne  down  by  the  superior  weight  of 
Caesar's  talent,  efficient  energy,  and  practical  wisdom. 
Many  other  great  men  besides  Cicero,  have,  in  this  re- 
spect erred,  and  lost  sight  of  their  object,  of  the  business 
tney  had  to  perform,  in  their  anxiety  to  achieve  a  bril- 
liant oration.  Students  of  law  are  more  particularly  in- 
terested in  observing  and  acting  upon  this  distinction ; 
not  only  because  those  among  them,  who  happen  to  pos- 
sess genius,  are  prone,  in  common  with  all  powerful 
minds,  to  give  the  reins  to  their  imagination,  and  permit 
their  heated  enthusiasm  to  sweep  and  swing  beyond  the 
flaming  bounds  of  time  and  space,  extra  flammantia 
JHcenia  Mundi ; — but  also,  because  the  profession  of  the 
law  itself  can,  very  seldom,  tolerate  in  a  forensic  speaker, 
the  bursts  of  deep,  intense,  and  genuine  passion; — a 
rich  variety  of  imagery,  the  higher  flights  of  poetry,  the 
finer  touches  of  tenderness,  the  celestial  visions  of  a  sub- 
limated philosophy,  the  majestic  amplitude  of  a  style., 
full,  flowing,  fervid,  and  energetic : 

-    "  Monte  decurrens  velut  amnis,  itnbres 
"  Quern  super  notas  aluere  ripas, 
"  Fervet,  immensusque  ruit  profundo 
" ore." 

The  student  should,  also,  remember  the  broad  line  of 
distinction  between  ancient  and  modern  eloquence.  The 
statesmen  of  antiquity  made  it  the  main  business  of  their 
lives  to  become  great  proficients  in  public  speaking ; 
and  consequently,  granting  to  modern  orators  native  ta- 


300  BESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

lents  equal  to  those  of  Cicero  and  Demosthenes,  yet,  as 
they  do  not  labour  so  intensely  on  the  study  of  their  art, 
modern  oratory  cannot  rival  that  of  the  elder  time.  It 
must  be  inferior  in  methodical  composition,  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  subjects,  in  the  style,  elaborated  to  per- 
fection by  the  combined  efforts  of  study,  taste,  and  ge- 
nius ;  in  the  mode  of  delivery,  refined  by  a  long  course 
of  exact  discipline;  in  the  exquisite  union  of  refinement 
with  the  most  perfect  air  of  simplicity,  in  the  combina- 
tion of  art  with  nature.  The  proof  of  this  may  be  found 
by  comparing  the  deliberative  orations  of  Demosthenes 
and  Cicero,  with  the  parliamentary  and  congressional 
effusions  of  modern  debaters.  Yet,  doubtless,  the  ex- 
temporaneous reasoning  and  declamation  of  modern 
times  are  better  fitted  for  transacting  the  business  of  real 
life,  than  the  more  highly  finished  compositions  of  anti- 
quity. Wherefore,  as  all  life  consists  in  action,  it  is  per- 
haps wiser  for  public  men,  more  particularly  for  lawyers 
and  statesmen,  whose  whole  business  it  is  to  be  occu- 
pied in  the  transactions  of  real  life,  to  accustom  them- 
selves to  speaking  extempore,  which,  although  it  can 
never  render  them  such  regular  and  finished  orators,  as 
Greece  and  Rome  exhibited  in  the  best  days  of  their 
high  and  palmy  greatness,  will  yet  better  enable  them 
to  discharge,  with  credit  to  themselves  and  benefit  to 
the  community,  those  various  important  and  difficult  du- 
ties, which  must  ever  devolve  upon  genius  and  wisdom, 
amidst  the  ceaseless  activity  of  commercial  enterprise, 
and  the  everlasting  agitations  of  popular  freedom. 

It  cannot  be  necessary  to  expatiate  upon  the  benefit 
of  an  habitual  study  of  the  best  recorded  speeches,  both 
ancient  and  modern ;  because  they  contain  a  vast  fund 
of  important  moral,  political,  financial,  commercial,  and 
legal  information ;  delivered  by  the  ablest  men  of  the 
most  civilized  countries  in  their  most  cultivated  ages,  as 
the  last  result  of  their  happiest  efforts,  under  the  inspi- 
ration of  excited  genius,  giving  vent  to  its  effusions,  in 
"  thoughts  that  breathe,  and  words  that  burn."  They 
furnish  the  best  models  of  clear,  profound,  and  compre- 
hensive reasoning,  illumined  by  all  the  brilliancy  of  elo- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  39 1 

quence.  They  afford  the  finest  exercise  to  the  analyti- 
cal powers  of  the  mind,  while  tracing  the  golden  links  of 
their  argumentative  chain ;  they  enlarge  the  understand- 
ing, and  elevate  the  imagination,  by  opening  the  richest 
treasures  of  lofty  sentiment  and  extensive  thought,  glis- 
tening in  all  the  splendour  of  appropriate  and  copious 
language. 

The  result  as  to  the  comparative  merit  of  American 
and  English  public  speaking,  may  be  given  in  a  few 
words.  In  tne  United  States  there  is  less  learning  and 
science  among  our  clergy;  less  particular  legal  re- 
search among  our  lawyers,  and  less  political  information 
among  our  statesmen,  than  among  the  corresponding 
professions  in  Britain ;  yet  the  eloquence  of  the  Ameri- 
can pulpit,  bar,  and  senate,  is  more  full  of  vigour  and 
animation  than  that  of  the  British  church,  forum,  and 
parliament.  In  England  the  college  scholarships  and 
fellowships,  and  various  other  munificent  institutions, 
lend  continual  aid  to  the  learning  and  science  of  her 
clergy;  the  liberal  and  protracted  classical  education, 
and  the  minute  division  of  intellectual  labour,  giving  Jo 

O  O 

one  man  the  single  vocation  of  an  attorney  ;  to  a  second, 
that  of  solicitor ;  to  a  third,  that  of  conveyancer ;  to  a 
fourth,  that  of  special  pleader ;  to  a  fifth,  that  of  proc- 
tor ;  to  a  sixth,  that  of  a  common  lawyer ;  to  a  seventh, 
that  of  a  civilian  ;  to  an  eighth,  that  of  a  chancery  law- 
yer, enable  each  lawyer  to  be  more  profoundly  and 
extensively  versed  in  the  researches  of  his  own  parti- 
cular department ;  and  there  being  a  separate  class  of 
men  trained  up  exclusively  to  the  pursuits  of  political 
life,  who  have,  in  fact,  no  other  vocation  than  to  acquire 
political  and  general  information,  and  transact  the  pub- 
lic business,  enable  the  British  statesmen  to  become  at 
once  minutely  and  comprehensively  informed  of  all  that 
regards  the  policy  of  their  country,  both  in  its  home 
government  and  in  its  foreign  relations. 

But  in  the  United  States,  our  clergy  have  moderate 
salaries ;  no  public  and  few  private  libraries ;  no  fel- 
lowships nor  scholarships  ;  no  learned  leisure,  constant 
preaching,  and  perpetual  parochial  duty ;  our  lawyers 


302  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  S'i^TES. 

combine  in  one  and  the  same  personage  all  the  various 
vocations  of  an  equity  lawyer,  a  civilian,  common  law- 
yer, proctor,  special  pleader,  conveyancer,  solicitor,  and 
attorney;  and  our  politicans  constitute  no  separate 
class,  but  are  taken  chiefly  from  our  practising  lawyers ; 
whence  these  respective  bodies  have  no  opportunity  of 
acquiring  so  much  learning  and  science,  whether  pro- 
fessional or  general,  as  those  of  Britain.  Yet,  being 
compelled  to  rely  entirely  on  the  resources  of  their  own 
minds,  in  their  various  employments,  and  to  place  their 
ingenuity  and  vigour  in  a  state  of  constant  requisition, 
they  acquire  habits  of  greater  intellectual  promptness  and 
energy  than  their  British  brethren  who  labour  in  similar 
callings,  and,  leaning  systematically  on  their  numerous 
artificial  props  of  multifarious  information  and  minute 
subdivision  of  employment,  exhibit,  indeed,  more  learn- 
ing and  knowledge  on  the  subjects  which  they  discuss, 
whether  verbally  or  in  writing,  but,  in  general,  display 
less  acuteness,  strength,  animation,  and  resource  of  in- 
tellect than  the  Americans,  who,  having  fewer  crutches, 
are  obliged  to  trust  the  more  to  their  own  legs ;  whence, 
in  the  United  States,  the  individuals,  and,  in  Britain,  the 
aggregate  nation,  is  the  most  powerful.  At  least  this 
appears  to  be  the  fact  to  one  who  has  had  an  opportu- 
nity of  observing  the  people  of  both  countries,  by  a 
residence  of  several  years  in  each. 

The  common  law  reporters  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  separate  states  of  New-York,  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania,  Connecticut,  and  Virginia  are  fully  equal 
to  those  of  England ;  and  the  New-York  Chancery  re- 
ports are  far  superior  to  any  that  Britain  has  ever  pro- 
duced. In  a  recent  case  the  two  crown  lawyers  of 
England  sent  to  this  city  a  joint  and  decided  opinion  on 
a  very  important  question,  involving  an  immense  amount 
of  property,  and  requiring  for  its  solution  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  English  common  law  and  with 
international  law  in  all  its  branches,  natural,  conven- 
tional, and  customary.  This  opinion  was  submitted  to 
some  of  the  leaders  of  our  New-York  bar,  who,  after 
due  deliberation,  gave  an  opinion  directly  contrary  to 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

that  delivered  by  the  attorney  and  solicitor  geperal  of 
England,  and  supported  it  by  legal  references  and  gene- 
ral reasoning.  When  it  reached  England,  and  met  the 
eyes  of  the  crown  lawyers,  those  gentlemen  were  in- 
duced to  reconsider  the  subject,  the  result  of  which 
was,  that  they  finally  retracted  their  former  opinion, 
and  acceded  to  that  of  our  New- York  lawyers. 

In  fine,  those  who  are  acquainted  with  both  countries 
cannot  hesitate  to  declare,  that,  although  in  particular 
departments  of  legal  inquiry,  the  British  lawyers  may 
be  more  learned,  more  minutely  and  extensively  read, 
yet,  in  the  exhibition  of  prompt,  various,  and  vigorous 
talent,  the  bars  of  New-York,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston, 
surpass  those  of  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


On  the  Literature  of  the  United  States. 

JL  HE  writer  of  a  pamphlet,  called  "  The  United  States 
and  England,  being  a  Keply  to  the  Criticism  on  Inchi- 
quin's  Letters,  contained  in  the  Quarterly  Review  for 
January  1814;"  traces  with  considerable  acuteness  and 
ingenuity,  the  causes  which  have  retarded  the  progress 
of  literature,  art,  and  science  in  this  country.  But  the 
whole  performance  is  miserably  disgraced  by  a  rancour 
of  personal  hatred,  and  a  venom  of  vulgar  scurrility, 
that  ought  never  to  be  admitted  into  literary  controver- 
sy ;  such  weapons  of  warfare  resembling  rather  the  to- 
mahawk of  a  savage,  than  the  sword  of  a  gentleman. 

Mr.  Southey  is  selected  as  the  victim  of  the  writer's 
spleen,  and  loaded  with  every  epithet  of  abuse,  that 
the  language  of  vindictive  vituperation  can  furnish. 
And  England,  together  \yith  her  institutions,  reli- 
gious and  political,  moral  and  social,  is  assailed  with 
all  the  bitterness  of  a  foiled  French  jacobin.  It  wa& 
hoped  that  this  essence  of  Sans-cullottism  had  long 
since  descended  from  all  decent  society,  both  here  and 
in  Europe,  to  the  dregs  of  the  populace.  Besides,  Mr. 
Southey  did  not  write  the  Review  of  Inchiquin's  Letters ; 
which  is  said  to  have  been  the  production  of  Dr.  Ire- 
land's pen.  Whoever  wrote  that  article,  ought  to  have 
known  better  than  to  indite  such  execrable  trash  against 
America ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  igno- 
rance or  scurrility  be  its  predominant  characteristic. 

In  a  recent  publication,  called  "Letters  from  the 
South,"  the  American  champion  has  glanced  again  at 
the  same  subject;  and  if  possible,  has  plunged  into  a 
still  lower  abyss  of  personal  ranconr  and  scurrility. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  305 

than  in   his  former   production.     The  respective   edi- 
tors of  the    Edinburgh    and    Quarterly  Reviews  are 
singled  out  as  the  objects  of  attack;  the  Scottish  editor 
is  reprehended  for  his  criticism  on  the  late  Dean  Swift, 
and  compared  to  "  a  little  cur  dog  that  yelps  at  the  car- 
cass of  a  dead  lion ;"  but  the  most  envenomed   shafts 
are  levelled  at  the  English  editor,   whose  unpardonable 
crime  it  is,  to  have  risen  from  a  very  humble  birth,  and 
obscure  condition,  into  the  rank  of  one   of  the  ablest 
writers,  and  most  accomplished  scholars  in  Europe ;  and 
to  have  devoted  his  talents  and  learning  to  the  support 
of  the  government  of  his  country.     Among  other  nota- 
ble discoveries,  it  is  found  that  the  Quarterly  Review  is 
"  a  low,  obscure,  contemptible,  Billingsgate  production." 
Indeed,  the  philosophy  of  these  sans-cullotte  writers  ap- 
pears  to  consist  in  venting   low  buffoonery,  and  the 
coarsest  calumnies,  on  all  that  mankind  generally  deem 
illustrious  and  elevated.     If  a  man  unfortunately  nappen, 
whether  by  birth  or  personal  services,  to  be  a  prince, 
or  a  lord,  or  a  gentleman,  he  is  immediately  pronounced 
to  be  both  knave  and  fool   by  these   profound  philoso- 
phers; according  to  whose  canons  of  judgment,  no  one 
possesses  any  claim  to  either  virtue  or  wisdom,  unless 
he  be  born  a  peasant  or  a  cobbler.     And  the  whole 
patriotism  of  these  men  consists  in  calumniating  England ; 
certainly  without  adorning  or  strengthening  America. 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  any  one  should  pervert  a  fine 
understanding,  and  a  fair  proportion  of  information,  by  an 
inveterate  habit  of  hating  and  calumniating  whatever 
has  a  tendency  to  soften  national  asperity,  to  refine  the 
taste,  enlarge  the  intellect,  and  exalt  the  character  of  man. 
The  substance  of  this  writer's  reasons,  for  the  appa- 
rently low  state  of  letters  in  the  United  States,  is,  that 
their  learning,  like  their  riches,  is  more  equally  distribu- 
ted than  in  any  other  country ;  and  although  not  to  be 
found  in  great  masses,  is  diffused,  in  a  certain  degree, 
throughout  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  There  are 
many  causes  assigned,  why  literature  has  not  been  more 
cultivated  on  this  side  the  Atlantic;  the  chief  of  which 
are,  the  facility  of  acquiring  wealth  and  distinction  by 

39 


306  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

other  means,  less  laborious  and  more  certain ;  the  hard- 
ships and  dangers  of  the  original  settlers ;  the  revolu- 
tionary war;  the  unsettled  state  of  things  for  several 
years  after  its  termination ;  and  the  origin  and  progress 
of  the  French  revolution ;  all  tending  to  divert  the  Ame- 
rican mind  to  the  love  of  gain,  to  military  pursuits,  to 
political  strife,  rather  than  to  the  calmer  pleasures  of  the 
pen  and  page. 

These  reasons  doubtless  are  correct,  and  are  urged 
with  considerable  force,  both  of  thought  and  expression. 
It  is  now,  and  has  been  for  some  years  past,  a  subject 
of  complaint  among  our  most  respectable  writers,  that 
the  British  are  too  apt  to  underrate  the  literary  claims 
of  the  United  States;  and  arrogantly  condemn  their 
productions,  as  being,  for  the  most  part,  coarse  and  su- 
perficial. Mr.  Walsh,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  "  Ame- 
rican Review,"  expresses  his  indignation  at  this  conduct, 
in  terms  pointed  and  eloquent;  and  Mr.  Washington 
Irving,  in  his  very  interesting  "  Biographical  Sketch  of 
Campbell,"  the  Scottish  poet,  enters  more  largely  into 
the  subject,  in  a  strain  exquisitely  touching.  The  com- 
plaints urged  by  these  gentlemen  have  too  much  foun- 
dation in  truth ;  and  it  would  be  reciprocally  beneficial, 
if  the  United  States  and  England  were  both  to  abstain 
from  mutual  recrimination ;  and  to  enter  upon  a  friendly 
and  honourable  rivalry  in  the  career  of  literary  exertion, 
of  scientific  pursuit,  and  liberal  praise.  It  may  be  use- 
ful, perhaps,  to  inquire  into  some  of  the  principal  causes, 
which  have  influenced  the  progress  of  letters  in  this 
country ;  premising,  however,  a  theory  of  the  French 
philosophers  respecting  the  nature  of  American  intel- 
lect, and  its  practical  refutation  by  Dr.  Franklin. 

The  essence  of  this  theory  was,  that  something  in  the 
nature  and  constitution  of  the  American  soil  and  cli- 
mate necessarily  diminishes  the  powers,  physical  and  in- 
tellectual, of  all  its  inhabitants,  whether  human  or 
brute.  This  position  the  Count  de  Buffbn  first  advan- 
ced, in  his  disquisitions  on  Natural  History :  and  has 
been  followed  by  a  numerous  host  of  philosophers,  who 
maintain  that  all  our  animals  are  smaller  and  weaker 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  307 

than  those  in  Europe ;  that  our  dogs  do  not  bark ;  that 
no  hair  grows  on  the  bodies  of  our  aboriginal  Indians  ; 
that  Europeans,  who  migrate  hither,  degenerate  both  in 
body  and  mind ;  ahd  that  their  descendants  are  ex- 
ceedingly deficient  in  physical  activity  and  force,  and  in 
intellectual  quickness  and  strength.  One  of  these  pre- 
cious theorists  received  an  adequate  entertainment  from 
the  Arabs,  into  whose  hands  he  fell  a  prisoner,  during 
Buonaparte's  expedition  to  Egypt,  in  1798.  This 
French  sgavant,  in  order  to  escape  manual  drudgery, 
when  questioned  by  his  captors  respecting  his  usual 
occupations,  replied,  that  he  had  led  a  sedentary  life ; 
the  descendants  of  Ishmael  immediately  covered  him 
with  tar  and  feathers,  and  set  him  to  hatch  eggs,  by 
preserving  a  sedentary  posture  on  them  in  the  hot  sand. 
Dr.  Franklin,  while  American  ambassador  at  Paris, 
undertook  to  refute  this  theory.  He  invited  six  of  his 
own  countrymen,  and  six  Frenchmen,  to  dine  with  him. 
As  was  expected,  the  French  gentlemen,  who  were  all 
profound  philosophers,  began  to  inquire  into  the  causes 
of  the  declension  of  nature, — vegetable,  animal,  and  mo- 
ral,— in  America ;  one  said,  the  reason  why  man,  in  par- 
ticular, became  feebler  in  body  and  mind,  was  owing  to 
the  climate  being  too  hot ;  another  insisted,  that  it  arose 
from  the  climated  being  too  cold ;  a  third  assigned,  as 
the  efficient  cause,  the  too  great  quantity  of  rain;  a 
fourth  attributed  the  deficiency  to  too  much  drought; 
while  the  two  last  demonstrated,  that  both  man  and 
beast  were  dwarfed  in  America  from  a  want  of  food  in 
the  country.  Each  Gallic  disputant  maintained  his  own 
side  of  the  question  with  characteristic  volubility  for  a 
length  of  time :  when,  at  last,  they  all  referred  to 
Franklin,  for  a  philosophical  solution  of  the  cause,  why  all 
American  creatures  are  so  inferior  to  Europeans  in  size 
and  strength  ?  The  Doctor  very  gravely  desired  his 
six  countrymen  to  stand  up,  side  by  side ;  which  they 
did,  and  exhibited  a  goodly  spectacle ;  for  they  were 
all  stout,  well-proportioned,  tall,  handsome  men ;  the 
half-dozen  Frenchmen  were  then  requested  to  stand  up, 
side  by  side ;  they  did  so,  and  presented  a  ludicrous 


308  RESOURCES  OF  THE  ifrJITED  STATES. 

contrast  to  the  degenerate  Americans  ;  for  they  were 
all  little,  lank,  yellow,  shrivelled  personages,  resembling 
Java  monkeys.  They  all  peeped  up  at  their  opposite 
neighbours,  and  were  silent — though  not  satisfied. 

It  is,  indeed,  quite  unphilosophical  to  measure  genius 
by  geographical  lines,  and  to  suppose  that  Providence 
apportions  talent  according  to  degrees  of  latitude.  The 
limits  of  the  present  work  will  not  allow  the  discussion, 
or  it  were  easy  to  show,  both  by  reasoning,  a  priori,  on 
general  principles,  and  also  by  a  regular  induction  from 
facts,  that  although  individuals  differ  from  each  other  in 
degrees  of  native  talent,  yet  large  masses  of  human  be- 
ings average  an  equal  aggregate  amount  of  capacity,  in 
all  ages  and  countries.  Indeed,  when  it  is  said  there 
must  be  an  average  equality  of  talent  in  the  whole,  or 
in  any  large  portions  of  the  human  race,  in  all  ages  and 
countries,  it  is  only  saying,  in  other  words,  that  man  is 
substantially  the  same  being,  in  body,  mind,  and  spirit, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  human  creation. 
Whence,  although  individuals  differ  from  each  other  in 
their  respective  proportions  of  talent,  so  that  scarcely 
any  two  persons,  perhaps,  bring  into  the  world  precise- 
ly the  same  extent  of  capacity,  the  gradations  of  intel- 
lect being  as  various  as  the  forms  and  countenances  of* 
men,  yet  the  whole,  or  any  large  portion  of  mankind, 
averages  an  equal  aggregate  of  talent  with  that  of  the 
same  number  in  any  other  age  or  country.  For  in- 
stance, the  ten  millions  of  people  who  now,  in  1817,  in- 
habit these  United  States,  average  as  large  an  aggre- 
gate of  native  genius  as  ten  millions  of  French,  or  Bri- 
tish, or  Greeks,  or  Romans,  or  any  other  people,  of 
whatever  age  or  country,  ancient  or  modern. 

At  all  events,  it  is  too  late  now  to  oppose  any  mere 
theory  respecting  the  degeneracy  of  men  in  America,  to 
the  irresistible  argument  of  contrary  facts,  seeing,  that 
the  Americans  have,  for  a  series  of  years,  displayed  the 
utmost  intelligence,  enterprise,  spirit,  and  perseverance 
in  all  the  occupations  of  peace ;  and,  likewise,  exhibited 
the  most  consummate  skill,  intrepidity,  and  heroism  in 
war,  whether  conflicting  in  the  field  or  on  the  ocean. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  3f)y 

The  truth  is,  that  the  great  mass  of  the  American  peo- 
ple surpasses  that  of  all  other  countries  in  shrewdness  of 
intellect,  in  general  intelligence,  and  in  that  versatile 
capacity  which  enables  men  to  enter  upon  and  prosecute 
successfully,  new  situations  and  untried  employments. 
It  would  be  difficult  for  any  country  to  show  that  it  has 
produced  men  of  greater  genius,  in  their  respective  de- 
partments, than  Rittenhouse,  Franklin,  and  West. 

The  causes,  therefore,  why  the  United  States  have 
not  yet  equalled  the  most  civilized  European  nations  in 
the  refinements  of  art,  the  improvements  of  science,  and 
the  splendours  of  erudition,  are  to  be  sought  in  other 
sources  than  those  of  any  natural  deficiency  in  intellec- 
tual vigour  and  strength.  Some  of  these  causes  are 
now  to  be  examined. 

Compare,  for  a  moment,  the  relative  situation  of  a 
student  in  the  United  States  and  in  England,  and  there 
will  be  no  necessity  of  recurring  to  physical  causes,  in 
order  to  account  for  the  comparative  inferiority  of  Ame- 
rican to  British  literature.  In  Britain  the  candidates 
for  literary  fame  are  in  possession  of  the  accumulated 
learning  of  several  centuries ;  they  have  access  to  ample 
libraries,  containing  books  written  upon  almost  every 
subject  of  human  inquiry ;  from  the  great  crowding  of 
population,  they  enjoy  the  benefit  of  a  continual  compe- 
tition of  talent ;  owing  to  the  great  opulence  of  the 
country,  there  is  a  constant  demand  for  literary  pro- 
ductions, which  are  multiplied  alike  by  the  magnificent 
liberality  of  the  hereditarily  wealthy,  who  collect  to- 
gether innumerable  volumes,  and  by  the  spirit  and  in- 
telligence of  the  middle  orders  of  the  people,  including 
the  learned  professions,  the  country  gentlemen,  the  mer- 
chants, the  manufacturers,  and  the  yeomanry,  who  ex- 
amine for  themselves  into  the  merits  of  the  writers  they 
peruse  ;  from  the  liberally  endowed  seminaries  of  edu- 
cation, both  schools  and  colleges,  a  high  bounty  of 
emolument  and  honour  is  perpetually  offered  for  the 
exertions  of  lettered  men;  by  me  extensive  circulation 
and  salutary  influence  of  so  many  literary  journals,  re- 
plete with  various  information  and  full  of  the  most  vi- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

gorous  displays  of  genius,  the  republic  of  letters  in 
Great  Britain  is  lopped  of  its  luxuriance,  swept  of  its 
frivolity  and  absurdity,  cleansed  of  its  dulness  and  igno- 
rance, chastened  in  its  strength,  and  brightened  in  its 
ornament.  All  these,  and  many  other  causes,  are  con- 
tinually operating  to  excite  the  men  of  letters  in  Britain 
to  a  display  of  the  most  energetic  and  brilliant  exhibi- 
tions of  talent  and  learning ;  and  do  we  therefore  mar- 
vel, that  in  every  department  of  literature  and  science, 
the  nation  has  produced,-  and  still  continues  to  produoej 
works  of  such  transcendent  excellence,  that  her  philo- 
sophers, poets,  orators,  historians,  moralists,  and  critics, 
command  the  applause  and  homage  of  their  contempora- 
ries, and  ensure  the  admiration  01  all  future  ages? 

But  what  is  the  case  with  respect  to  the  United 
States?  The  very  condition  of  society  in  this  country 
forbids  its  people,  as  yet,  to  possess  an  exalted  literary 
character.  A  comparatively  thin  population,  spread 
over  an  immense  surface,  opposes  many  serious  obsta- 
cles to  the  production  and  circulation  of  literary  effu- 
sions ;  the  infancy  of  its  national  independence,  and  the 
peculiar  structure  of  its  social  institutions,  do  not  allow 
a  sufficient  accumulation  of  individual  and  family  wealth 
to  exist  in  the  community,  so  as  to  create  an  effectual 
demand  for  the  costly  or  frequent  publications  of  ori- 
ginal works ;  the  means  of  subsistence  are  so  abundant 
and  so  easy  of  attainment,  and  the  sources  of  personal 
revenue  so  numerous,  that  nearly  all  the  active  talent  in 
the  nation  is  employed  in  prosecuting  some  commercial, 
or  agricultural,  or  professional  pursuit,  instead  of  being 
devoted  to  the  quieter  and  less  lucrative  labours  of  lite- 
rature ;  the  scarcity  of  public  libraries  and  of  private 
collections  of  books,  renders  any  great  attainments  in 
science  and  erudition  exceedingly  toilsome  and  difficult; 
the  want  of  literary  competition,  rewards,  and  honours, 
the  entire  absence  of  all  government  patronage,  whether 
State  or  federal,  togethe  rwith  the  very  generally  defec- 
tive means  of  liberal  education,  necessarily  deter  men  of 
high  talents  from  dedicating  themselves  solely  to  the 
occupation  of  letters ;  and  consequently  prevent  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATKS, 


311 


appearance  of  those  finished  productions,  whether  in 
verse  or  prose,  which  can  only  find  an  existence  when 
the  efforts  of  genius  are  aided  by  undisturbed  leisure 
and  extensive  learning. 

Such  are  some  of  the  causes  which  contribute  to  re- 
tard the  progress  of  literature  in  the  United  States ; 
whence  we  have  no  right  to  expect,  while  these  causes 
continue  to  operate,  the  appearance  of  many  original 
American  publications,  bearing  the  stamp  of  very  pro- 
found science  or  very  comprehensive  erudition.  The 
literary  taste  of  the  generality  of  our  readers  may  be 
inferred  from  inspecting  the  books  of  the  public  libraries 
in  New-York,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston,  the  three  most 
enlightened  portions  of  the  union.  The  Novels,  chiefly 
English,  with  a  few  bad  translations  from  French  fic- 
tions, the  sweepings  of  the  Minerva  press,  in  Leaden- 
hall-street,  are  most  abundantly  used,  as  affording  the 
highest  gratification  to  the  lovers  of  literature ;  f*lays 
and  Farces  are  in  the  next  degree  of  requisition  ;  Moral 
Essays  and  History  suffer  a  little  injury  in  the  first,  less 
in  the  second,  and  none  in  the  subsequent  volumes  j  the 
Classics,  elementary  books  on  Metaphysics,  Political 
Economy,  and  Philosophical  subjects,  generally  sleep 
securely  on  their  shelves,  undusted  and  undisturbed  by 
any  profane  hand  or  prying  eye.  Of  course,  this  state- 
ment does  not  apply  to  the  liberal  scholars  who  visit 
these  libraries — they,  however,  are  comparatively  few. 

As  is  the  generality  of  readers,  so  is  that  of  writers, 
in  a  country.  For  the  literary,  like  every  other  mar- 
ket, must  always  be  supplied  with  commodities  in  qua- 
lity and  quantity  proportioned  to  its  demand  for  mer- 
chantable wares.  If  the  purchasers  insist  upon  being 
provided  with  nonsense,  there  will  always  be  a  sufficient 
supply  of  that  article  forthcoming  for  the  use  of  the 
home  consumption  trade.  Hence,  as  must  ever  happen 
in  such  an  order  of  things,  the  press  teems  with  those 
mushroom  productions  of  folly,  which  are  engendered 
by  the  conjunction  of  ignorance  with  impertinence. 
Thus,  at  the  first  dawning  of  the  revival  of  letters  in 
the  south  of  Europe,  the  Troubadors  and  Provencal 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 

writers  deluged  the  land  with  a  flood  of  fantastic  fop- 
pery and  childish  conceit.  Thus,  in  later  times,  even 
in  our  own  days,  the  minor  men  of  letters,  the  literatuli 
of  the  age,  enter  into  a  small  conspiracy  against  all  use- 
ful and  solid  information,  and  commit  a  feeble  outrage 
upon  the  efforts  of  genius  and  learning.  And  as  is  the 
case  with  all  weak  animals,  these  self-styled  wise  men, 
instinctively  throng  together  in  herds ;  and  while  they 
wage  eternal  warfare  against  all  exalted  intellect,  inces- 
santly besmear  the  effusions  of  each  other's  folly,  with 
the  ignoble  ordure  of  each  other's  praise.  They  per- 
petually and  reciprocally  lavish  the  epithets  of  "inge- 
nious," "  learned,"  "acute,"  "illustrious,"  "profound 
"philosophical,"  and  so  forth,  upon  the  dismal  lucubra- 
tions of  themselves  and  their  brethren,  which  afford  no 
light,  but  rather  darkness  visible ;  while  at  the  same  time, 
they  industriously  raise  the  cry  of  alarm  and  horror, 
even  at  the  sound  of  the  distant  footsteps  of  sense  and 
knowledge. 

The  defenceless  field  animals  are  always  gregarious ; 
always  found  in  flocks  and  herds;  but  the  lion  ranges 
alone  over  the  extent  of  hjs  undisputed  dominion.  True 
genius  scorns  the  knavish  arts  of  popular  adulation:  it 
loves  to  be  solitary ;  and  when  surrounded  by  the  cack- 
ling of  folly,  it  broods  over  the  inmost  recesses  of  its 
soul  in  silence,  and  "  pines,  like  the  melancholy  eagle, 
amidst  the  meaner  domestic  birds." 

It  is  however  to  be  remembered,  that  although  the 
condition  of  society  forbids  us,  at  present,  to  expect  in 
the  United  States  many  original  writers  on  subjects  in- 
voking an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  depths  of  sci- 
ence, and  the  heights  of  learning;  yet  there  is  much 
more  literary  excellence  in  this  country,  than  ever  meets 
the  public  eye;  because,  as  from  the  comparative  thin- 
ness of  the  population,  as  well  as  from  other  reasons, 
authorship  is  not  a  distinct  and  separate  calling,  as  in 
some  of  the  more  crowded  parts  of  Europe ;  the  best 
scholars  in  America,  are  those  who  follow  other  pur- 
suits, in  addition  to  that  of  letters;  namely,  our  profes- 
sional gentlemen.  t,he  clergy,  physicians,  and  lawyers; 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  3^3 

and  some  who  are  not  attached  to  either  of  these  voca- 
tions, but  are  immersed  in  commercial  enterprises,  or 
agricultural  experiments.  Among  these  different  classes 
are  to  be  found  individuals,  who,  on  general  subjects  of 
learning  and  taste,  need  not  turn  their  backs  to  any  of 
the  literary  veterans  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
From  the  comparatively  small  demand  for  original 
works  in  the  United  States,  our  ablest  and  best  in- 
formed men  seldom  appear  as  writers;  and  the  field  of 
letters  is  left  almost  entirely  clear,  for  the  exhibitions  of 
those  who  are  not  to  be  numbered  among  the  most 
learned,  and  the  ablest  men  in  America.  Add  to  this, 
that  the  continual  influx  of  British  literature,  although 
beneficial  in  imparting  to  our  people  new  and  extensive 
information  upon  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  is  so  far 
prejudicial,  as  it  depresses  the  spirit  of  native  literature, 
by  creating  a  fastidious  rage  for  foreign  publications, 
and  an  affectation  of  contempt  for  the  productions  of 
our  own  press. 

Yet  notwithstanding  all  these  unpropitious  circum- 
stances, the  literary  spirit  has  been  for  some  years  past 
rising  in  the  United  States ;  witness  the  progressive  in- 
crease in  the  importation  of  foreign  books,  in  the  repub- 
lication  of  British  works,  and  the  productions  of  Ameri- 
can writers.  And  probably,  on  a  fair  view  of  the  sub- 
ject, we  may  conclude  the  progress  of  letters  in  this 
country  to  be  proportionally  equal  to  that  of  Britain ; 
considering  the  different  states  of  society  in  the  two 
countries.  But,  perhaps,  it  may  be  useful  to  notice 
some  of  the  other  causes,  which  obstruct  the  course  of 
literature  in  the  Union.  Among  these,  is  to  be  particu- 
larly noticed,  the  unfortunate  practice  of  entering  upon 
active  life  at  too  early  an  age.  Partly  from  the  condi- 
tion of  society,  and  partly  from  the  eager  appetite  for 
wealth,  which  especially  characterizes  all  young  and 
thinly  settled  countries ;  divines,  lawyers,  physicians,  and 
merchants,  rush  into  the  occupations  of  active  life,  al- 
most before  they  reach  that  period  which  the  wisdom 
of  the  common  law  allots  as  the  termination  of  infancy. 
Plunging  so  early  into  the  minuter  details  of  practical 

40 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATE* 

employment,  prevents  the  due  developement  of  the  in- 
tellectual faculties ;  and  after  a  while  renders  the  mind, 
from  disuse,  both  unable  and  unwilling  to  direct  its  at- 
tention to  the  more  abstracted  pursuits  of  literature  and 
science. 

There  is  a  salutary  adage  in  the  old  law  books,  which 
runs  thus,  "Injuvenetheologoconscientia3  detrimentum; 
in  juvene  legista  bursa?  detrimentum ;  in  juvene  medico 
caemeterii  incrementum ;"  the  consciences  of  his  parish- 
ioners suffer  by  a  young  clergyman ;  the  purse  of  his 
clients  diminishes  in  the  hands  of  a  young  lawyer;  and 
the  churchyard  increases  by  the  labours  of  a  young  phy- 
sician. This  adage,  however,  has  notyei  found  its  way 
into  the  United  States ;  where  the  young  people  of  all 
classes  are  precipitated  into  business  during  childhood. 
Lord  Bacon  complains,  that  in  his  time,  the  full  growth 
of  mind  was  retarded  by  the  pernicious  custom,  then 
prevalent  in  Europe,  of  permitting  youth  to  enter  into 
active  life  at  so  early  an  age  as  thirty.  This  prince  of 
philosophers  was,  in  common  with  other  great  men,  his 
contemporaries,  in  the  habit  of  indulging  Utopian  vi- 
sions concerning  the  millennial  perfection  of  this  his 
"  New  Jitalantis ;"  and  the  most  confident  predictions 
were  hazarded,  that  America,  rising  superior  to  the 
heedlessness  of  European  haste,  would  patiently  unfold 
her  national  intellect,  by  large  and  liberal  study ;  so  as 
to  produce  in  each  particular  calling,  the  most  beneficial 
results,  and  most  luminous  discoveries. 

With  such  a  conviction,  how  would  Verulam  be 
moved,  could  he  behold  with  what  unmeasured  precipi- 
tancy, this  New  Atalantis,  this  Athens  of  the  western 
world,  pours  forth  its  swarms  of  unfledged  youth  to  as- 
sume the  responsibilities  of  public  life,  ere  they  have 
passed  the  little  period  of  one  and  twenty  years.  At 
this  unripe  age,  the  preacher  takes  upon  himself  to  ex- 
pound the  all-important  doctrines  that  characterize  the 
stupendous  scheme  of.  redemption ;  and  to  impart  spi- 
ritual consolation  to  veteran  Christians.  The  physician, 
ajso,  is,  at  this  early  age,  licensed  to  break  the  sixth 
commandment ;  and  the  lawyer  is,  at  this  premature  pe- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  3J5 

riod,  allowed  to  practise,  as  master  of  a  system,  which 
has  grown  up  to  its  present  complicated  perfection  un- 
der the  continuous  efforts  of  me  ablest  men  of  many 
generations,  in  both  the  hemispheres,  European  and 
American ;  a  system,  which  has  reached  its  present  ma- 
turity of  wisdom  as  the  result  of  the  social  experience 
of  twelve  hundred  years.  At  this  early  age,  our  youth 
are  deemed  competent  to  prosecute  the  business  of  ac- 
tive commerce,  and  to  venture  gratuitous  opinions  upon 
the  most  difficult  questions  of  policy,  involving  great  na- 
tional relations  and  interests. 

The  consequences  of  this  precocious  publicity  are,  a 
superficial  elementary  education,  a  perpetual  pruriency 
of  prattle  upon  all  subjects,  without  a  due  fathoming  of 
the  depths  of  any  one  of  them,  and  an  entailed  disabili- 
ty of  fully  developing  the  understanding  which  is  nar- 
rowed in  early  life,  by  being  prematurely  absorbed  in 

1  •  1  1  *»          •          •   1 

the  minute,  but  necessary  details,  incident  to  every  prac- 
tical calling.  Whence,  with  their  due  proportion  of" 
genius,  in  common  with  all  other  nations,  and  with  the 
advantage  of  a  more  general  diffusion  of  popular  intelli- 
gence than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  community;  too 
many  of  our  citizens,  in  all  the  learned  professions,  begin, 
continue,  and  end  their  career,  on  much  narrower  ground 
than  their  native  capacity,  properly  unfolded  by  previ- 
ous general  information,  would  enable  them  to  cover. 

The  regular  order  of  events,  however,  is  providing  a 
remedy  for  the  intemperate  haste,  which  has  hitherto 
plunged  beardless  boys  into  public  life.  The  mere 
pressure  of  a  rapidly  increasing  population,  by  aug- 
menting professional  competition,  must,  in  due  time, 
compel  the  adoption  of  a  better  course  of  previous  edu- 
cation. Even  now  a  larger  stock  of  elementary  inform- 
ation is  necessary  to  enable  a  man  to  distinguish  him- 
self as  a  divine,  or  physician,  or  lawyer,  than  was  re- 
quisite twenty  years  since.  And,  doubtless,  twenty 
years  hence,  what  is  now  deemed  a  sufficiency  of  liberal 
instruction,  will  prove  but  a  slender  share  of  essential 
acquisitions. 


316  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

Seeing  then,  that  sufficient  time  and  opportunity  are 
not  allowed  our  professional  men  to  prosecute  literary 
pursuits,  from  what  fountains  are  the  streams  of  Ameri- 
can literature  to  spring  ? — from  the  colleges,  scattered  so 
profusely  all  over  the  union  ?  Alas !  few,  if  any  of 
these  academical  institutions,  are  so  munificently  endow- 
ed, as  to  enable  their  inmates  to  devote  the  combined 
advantages  of  talent,  leisure,  independence,  and  inclina- 
tion, to  the  service  and  promotion  of  letters.  In  this 
country,  there  are  no  fellowships,  no  scholarships,  no 
exhibitions,  none  of  those  situations,  which,  in  the  col- 
leges of  Europe,  direct  so  large  a  portion  of  talents  to 
the  successful  prosecution  of  learning.  Our  professors 
and  teachers  are  too  scantily  paid,  and  too  constantly 
worked,  to  be,  often,  able  to  execute  original  and  ex* 
tensive  literary  undertakings. 

Another  obstacle  to  the  growth  of  literature  in  the 
United  States,  arises  from  the  great  propensity  to  com- 
sume  the  talent  of  the  country  in  the  effusion  of  news- 
paper essays,  and  political  pamphlets;  instead  of  con- 
centrating it  in  the  production  of  some  regular,  consecu- 
tive work.  In  consequence  of  these  desultory  intellec- 
tual habits,  periodical  journals,  as  Reviews  and  Maga- 
zines, seldom  last  long.  The  author  can  obtain  little 
or  no  assistance  from  others  in  his  literary  efforts ;  the 
persons  competent  to  aid  him  in  such  an  undertaking 
being  comparatively  few  throughout  the  union,  and 
those,  for  the  most  part,  actively  employed  in  some  la- 
borious calling ;  and  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  any  one 
man,  however  gifted  with  talent,  adorned  with  know- 
ledge, and  armed  with  industry,  to  execute,  a/one,  a  lite- 
rary journal,  as  it  ought  to  be  executed.  Add  to  this, 
the  universal  vice  of  the  United  States,  a  perpetual 
craving  after  novelty.  The  charge  which  Demosthenes 
brought  against  his  own  countrymen,  that  they  were 
continually  running  about,  and  asking, — "  is  there  any 
thing  new  ?" — is  equally  applicable  to  the  Americans. 
This  eternal  restlessness,  ana  desire  of  change,  pervade 
the  whole  structure  of  our  society ;  the  same  man  will 
Start  into  life  as  a  clergyman,  then  turn  lawyer,  next, 


-  *  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

convert  himself  into  a  farmer  and  land-jobber,  and, 
taking  a  seat  in  congress,  or  some  state  legislature,  by 
the  way,  end  his  days  as  a  merchant  and  money-broker. 
The  people  are  incessantly  shifting  their  habitations, 
employments,  views,  and  schemes ;  the  residence  of  a 
servant  does  not  average  two  months  in  each  place  ;  the 
abode  of  a  whole  household  is  generally  changed  once 
a  year,  and  sometimes  oftener;  numerous  families,  that 
have  been  long  settled  in  the  elder  states  of  New-York, 
Connecticut,  and  Massachusetts,  are  continually  migra- 
ting into  Ohio,  or  the  territories  of  Alabama,  Illinois, 
and  Mississippi ;  the  executive,  the  legislators,  the  ma- 
gistrates, and  officers  of  all  kinds,  are  changed  biennial- 
ly, or  annually,  or  half-yearly,  according  to  the  greater, 
or  less  infusion  of  the  restless  spirit  of  democracy,  into 
our  various  forms  of  government. 

Such  being  the  temper,  disposition,  and  habits  of  the 
people,  new  periodical  publications  are  continually  start- 
ing up,  receive  a  little  eager,  capricious  encouragement, 
languish  a  brief  space,  and  die,  leaving  the  same  sickly 
course  to  be  run  by  a  race  of  successors,  equally  san- 
guine and  short-lived.  It  is  doubtful,  if  any  one  of  the 
best  European  journals,  most  distinguished  for  the  mag- 
nificent display  of  genius  and  knowledge,  were  to  issue 
from  the  American  press,  as  a  native  production,  it 
would  reach  the  second  year  of  its  unsupported  exist- 
ence. Some  years  since,  a  very  respectable  body  of 
men,  in  this  city,  selected  from  all  the  three  learned 
professions,  started  a  periodical  work,  called  "  The 
American  Review,  and  Magazine,"  which  was  ably 
conducted,  and  perished  for  want  of  patronage.  The 
"  Boston  Anthology,"  supported  by  the  labours  of  some 
of  the  best  literary  men  of  all  callings,  in  that  town, 
some  time  after,  shared  the  same  fate.  And,  at  a  more 
recent  period,  the  "  American  Review,"  edited  by  Mr. 
Walsh,  was  suffered  to  expire,  notwithstanding  the 
splendid  talents  and  various  erudition  of  its  conductor. 

There  never  was  a  time  when  the  United  States  stood 
so  much  in  need  of  an  original,  native  review,  as  now,  in 
order  to  erect  a  standard  of  independent,  impartial  cri- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ticism,  for  the  benefit  both  of  writers  and  readers ;  to 
animadvert  on  American  productions,  and  give  some 
account  of  European  literature,  particularly  of  France, 
Italy,  and  Germany.  The  Edinburgh  and  Quarterly 
Reviews  are  republished,  and  widely  circulated  in  this 
country;  they  are,  unquestionably,  the  ablest  literary 
journals  the  world  has  ever  yet  produced  ;  they  display 
a  stupendous  aggregate  of  genius,  taste,  and  learning, 
upon  almost  every  subject  of  human  inquiry ;  and  are 
also  important  to  us,  as  exhibiting  the  sentiments  of 
the  two  great  contending  parties  that  divide  and  govern 
the  British  empire.  But  they  say  little  on  American 
literature ;  ana  that  little  is  not  always  either  liberal  or 
just.  Besides,  they  suffer  their  political  feelings  and 
opinions  to  mingle  too  much  with,  and  occasionally  to 
pervert,  their  literary  criticisms.  An  original  United 
States  Review,  therefore,  which  should  steer  clear  of 
the  extremes  of  party  spirit,  and  exhibit  a  fair  and  ho- 
nest view  of  American  literature,  and  such  an  account 
of  European  productions  as  might  be  readily  obtained 
by  a  liberal  correspondence  with  that  quarter  of  the 
globe,  would  very  materially  tend  to  promote  the  cause 
of  letters  in  this  country,  and  draw  out  into  public  no- 
tice, as  contributors,  our  ablest  and  best  informed  men, 
who  now  are  the  grave  of  their  own  extensive  acquisi- 
tions, by  reading  all  and  writing  nothing. 

But,  although  in  the  higher  walks  of  literature,  the 
United  States  do  not  yet  excel,  they  surpass  all  other 
nations  in  elementary  education  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  im- 
parting the  rudiments  of  instruction  to  the  people  at 
large.  Most  of  the  States,  and  especially  those  of  New- 
England,  have  established  district  schools,  for  the  in- 
struction of  the  children  of  all  the  inhabitants.  Whence, 
scarcely  a  native  American  is  to  be  found  who  cannot 
read  and  write,  and  cast  accounts ;  and  they  all  read 
newspapers,  of  which  there  are  more  printed  in  the 
Union  than  in  all  the  British  empire,  and  political 
pamphlets,  if  they  read  nothing  else.  The  great  body 
of  the  European  people  are  altogether  uneducated;  Hol- 
land, Sweden,  the  rrotestant  Cantons  of  Switzerland. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


319 


and  Scotland,  it  is  believed,  are  the  only  portions  of 
Europe  in  which  the  government  makes  any  provision  for 
the  general  instruction  of  its  population.  The  intellec- 
tual and  moral  advantages  of  such  a  system  are  mani- 
fest in  the  superior  habits  and  character  of  the  New- 
England  people,  when  compared  with  the  rest  of  the 
Union ;  in  the  greater  sobriety  and  providence  of  the 
Scottish,  when  compared  with  their  English  and  Irish 
neighbours ;  in  the  more  regular  and  orderly  conduct 
of  the  Dutch,  Swedes,  and  Swiss,  in  comparison  with 
the  rest  of  continental  Europe. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  system  of  parochial  schools 
lias  proved  so  exceedingly  beneficial  in  Scotland,  the 
British  government  has  not  introduced  it  into  England 
or  Ireland.  If  the  people  of  those  two  countries  were 
as  well  instructed  as  the  Scottish,  the  moral  power  of 
the  British  empire,  and  consequently  its  national  strength 
and  greatness,  would  be  quadrupled  in  fifty  years. 
Nevertheless,  Britain  has  of  late  considerably  increased 
the  education  of  her  English  and  Irish  population,  by 
means  of  the  Bell  and  Lancaster  plans,  and  Charity 
and  Sunday  schools.  But  these  operate  only  partially ; 
she  must  establish  a  national  system,  if  she  wishes  to 
have  all  her  people  instructed.  The  saying  of  George 
the  Third,  "  that  he  hoped  soon  to  know  that  every 
poor  man,  within  his  realm,  possessed  and  could  read 
the  Bible,"  was  dictated  by  a  spirit  of  exalted  benevo- 
lence and  enlarged  wisdom,  better  calculated  to  im- 
prove and  render  prosperous  a  nation,  than  the  most 
splendid  achievements  of  naval  and  military  heroism. 

Both  countries  would  be  highly  benefitted  by  bor- 
rowing from  each  other;  England  by  adopting  the 
American  system  of  instructing  all  the  people,  and  the 
United  States  by  cultivating  that  higher  species  of 
learning,  which  has  rendered  the  English  scholars,  for 
a  series  of  ages,  so  peculiarly  pre-eminent.  When  will 
the  day  arrive,  that,  in  reference  to  our  own  classical 
writers,  we  may  be  able  to  exclaim  with  Callimachus  ? 


320  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


O«*    '"1  eAav 

K<t<  orof  ^  T*  ivftrftt  xecA«  fl-aj'f  tf>eioo?  tepeirerei 

I  am  afraid  some  considerable  time  will  elapse  before 
Apollo  will  deign  to  descend,  and  visit  the  temple  of 
American  inspiration,  in  the  same  manner,  and  to  the 
same  extent,  that  he  has  visited  Greece,  Rome,  and  Eng- 
land. Upon  the  first  introduction  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage into  the  English  universities,  it  met  with  very  de- 
cided opposition  ;  the  combatants  dividing  into  two 
companies,  the  one  favourable  to  the  study  of  the  "new 
tongue,"  as  it  was  called,  being  denominated  Greeks  ; 
that  against  it,  Trojans,  which  last,  whenever  they  saw 
any  thing  they  did  not  understand,  cried  out  "Graecum 
est,  et  non  potest  legi."  For  a  long  time,  in  England, 
the  Trojans  triumphed  ;  at  last  they  united  their  forces 
with  their  opponents,  and  both  have,  ever  since,  contri- 
buted to  augment  the  strength,  and  brighten  the  splen- 
dour of  their  country's  literature.  In  the  United  States. 
at  present,  the  Trojans  are  a  fearful  majority. 

The  power,  wealth,  and  influence  of  every  nation 
depends  more  upon  the  aggregate  of  disposable  intelli- 
gence afloat  in  the  community  than  upon  its  extent  of 
territory  and  number  of  inhabitants.     The  progress  of 
all  nations  in  wealth  and  strength,  in  internal  security 
and  external  influence,  has  been  proportioned  to  their 
activity  of  mind  and  advancement  in  knowledge.     The 
art  of  navigation,  the  resources  of  commerce,  me  ascen- 
dancy in  war,  the  discoveries  of  science,  the  duration  of 
dominion,  can  never  take  up  their  abode  permanently 
excepting  in  countries  where  the  paths  of  knowledge 
are  incessantly  explored  by  the  various  but  combined 
efforts  of  numerous  minds.     And  a  general  activity  of 
intellect  can  only  be  called  forth  in  a  nation  by  allowing 
full  freedom  of  inquiry  on  all  religious,  political,  and 
moral  subjects.     A  due  proportion  of  this  general  ac- 
tivity will  always  be  directed  to  the  cultivation  of  those 
arts  and  sciences  which  subserve  the  purposes  of  prac- 
tical  life,  the   increase  of  individual  convenience,  and 
the  augmentation  of  national  power.     The  triumphant 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  32  J 

issue  of  civilized  warfare  is  indissolubly  connected  with 
the  active  cultivation  of  mind,  the  wide  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  the  free  exercise  of  reason,  among  the  home 
population  of  every  country.  No  precarious  supply,  no 
importation  of  talent  from  abroad,  no  partial  attention 
to  any  one  branch  of  improvement  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  rest,  can  compensate  for  the  want  of  general  culti- 
vation in  the  minds  of  the  native  inhabitants* 

Of  what  immense  benefit  was  the  general  education 
of  their  people  to  the  United  States,  during  their  revo- 
lutionary struggle  and  their  recent  conflict  with  Bri- 
tain, in  multiplying  their  resources,  energy,  and  skill ! 
And  how  prodigiously  has  it  forwarded  their  national 
career  in  ail  the  arts  and  occupations  of  peace  ! 

But  although  elementary  instruction  is  generally  difc 
fused  throughout  the  union,  liberal  education  is  not  suf- 
ficiently encouraged  ;  the  causes  of  which  are  rooted  in 
the  very  condition  of  our  social  fabric.  Some  of  these 
it  may  be  useful  to  enumerate.  Owing  to  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  America  and  her  great  commercial 
capacities,  a  large  proportion  of  her  active  talent  is  de- 
voted to  trade.  But  although  trade,  when  considered 
in  the  aggregate,  is  a  great  engine  of  civilization,  and 
very  beneficial  to  mankind,  by  connecting  different  na- 
tions, by  opening  a  wider  field  for  the  exertions  of 
productive  industry,  and  by  enlarging  the  sphere  of 
inquiry,  yet  its  effect  upon  the  understanding  of  the 
individual  employed  in  it  is  not  so  beneficial.  For  the 
trader,  whether  a  wholesale  merchant  or  a  retail  dealer, 
must  employ  his  mind  chiefly  in  detail,  in  attending  to 
minute  particulars  and  petty  circumstances,  which  is  apt 
to  generate  a  habit  adverse  to  expansion  of  the  intellect. 
He,  whose  head  is  filled  with  commercial  calculations 
and  speculations  from  morning  to  night,  will  not  be 
often  inclined  to  peruse  the  pages  of  the  historian,  the 
philosopher,  or  the  moralist.  Under  such  circum- 
stances, wealth  alone  will  be  the  object  of  desire ;  and, 
as  literature  opens  no  such  shining  path  to  its  votaries, 
it  will  become  rather  an  object  of  contempt  than  of  cul- 
tivation. 

41 


322  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  consequence  of  the  general  predominance  of  the 
trading  spirit,  there'  is  a  great  dearth  of  liberal  educa- 
tion throughout  the  United  States.  For  no  man  can 
know  the  value  of  what  he  himself  has  never  possessed ; 
and  consequently  an  illiterate  father  can  never  appre- 
ciate the  importance  of  his  son's  being  liberally  edu- 
cated, nor  know  what  progress  his  boy  makes  in  learn- 
ing ;  and  will  be  apt  to  imagine  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  consume  much  time,  or  expend  much  money,  in  giving 
the  child  an  opportunity  of  acquiring  general  inform- 
ation. Accordingly  our  grammar  schools  are,  for  the 
most  part,  deplorably  defective.  The  schoolmasters 
consist  generally  of  unlettered  foreign  adventurers  and 
native  boys,  who  are  themselves  studying  law,  or  phy- 
sic, or  divinity,  and  propose  to  teach  others,  that  they 
may  be  able  to  defray  the  expense  of  their  own  profes- 
sional probation,  and  then  quit  the  trade  of  teaching 
altogether.  Such  schoolmasters  swarm  in  every  lane 
and  alley  of  our  towns  and  cities,  and  vie  with  each 
other  in  bold  assertions,  that  they  can  carry  a  boy 
through  a  course  of  liberal  education  in  a  few  months, 
and  at  a  small  expense.  This  delectable  promise  is 
swallowed  by  the  ignorant  and  credulous  parent,  who 
applauds  his  own  and  the  preceptor's  sagacity  for  con- 
triving and  executing  a  system  of  instruction,  which,  by 
the  expenditure  of  a  few  dollars,  shall  be  able  to  coun- 
teract all  the  accustomed  laws  of  human  nature,  falsify 
all  human  experience,  operate  impossibilities,  and  ma- 
nufacture a  scholar  by  teaching  him  nothing. 

The  use  of  the  grammar  is  either  exploded  alto- 
gether, or  very  superficially  taught,  or  translated  into 
English,  as  some  profound  scholars  have  done  with 
More's  Greek  grammar,  in  order  to  lessen  the  labour  of 
education.  But  the  basis  of  all  valuable  instruction 
must  be  laid  in  the  necessity  of  intellectual  toil;  no 
mental  acquisition  worth  possessing  can  be  obtained 
without  previous  mental  exertion.  What  is  not  known 
accurately  is  not  known  at  all ;  and  nothing  can  be 
known  accurately  without  previous  labour  of  the  un- 
derstanding. The  only  use  of  education  is  to  unfold 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  323 

the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  teach  the  pupil  to  think; 
but  the  superficial  smattering  of  a  few  assemblages  of 
words  and  phrases,  badly  understood,  and  worse  deli- 
vered, can  never  develope  any  power  of  the  mind,  nor 
render  man  an  animal  capable  of  reasoning.  Neverthe- 
less, some  grown-up  men,  who  pass  for  scholars  in  the 
United  States,  profess  to  condemn  the  mode  of  teaching 
Latin  and  Greek  by  the  aid  of  grammar,  which  they 
say  is  too  abstract  for  the  comprehension  of  boys; 
wherefore  they  recommend  those  languages  to  be 
taught  "  by  reading  a  great  deal,  and  committing  the 
Dictionary  and  Lexicon  to  memory." 

This,  although  a  fashionable,  appears  to  be  a  strange 
method  of  teaching  any,  especially  the  dead  languages. 
Why  strive  to  encumber  a  child's  memory  with  the 
numberless  words  and  phrases  of  a  whole  Dictionary, 
when  it  would  be  so  much  easier  to  learn  and  retain  the 
comparatively  few  and  simple  rules  of  grammar  ?  Be- 
sides, it  is  not  in  the  nature  of  things  that  children  shall 
read  a  great  deal ;  it  is  necessary  that  their  tasks  be  short 
and  simple,  and  that  they  be  allowed  to  promote  their 
health  and  growth  by  spending  a  great  proportion  of 
their  time  in  bodily  exercise  and  amusement.  Nor  is  it 
easy  to  perceive,  how  the  mind  can  be  much  improved 
by  committing  to  memory  a  vast  number  of  words  and 
phrases  to  which  they  attach  no  definite  meaning. 
Words  are  merely  arbitrary  signs  to  designate  certain 
things;  language  is  made  up  of  words,  and  grammar  is 
the  reduction  of  language  into  general  and  fixed  rules. 
And  the  universal  voice  of  the  wise  and  learned  in  all 
ages  has  required  that  well-educated  persons  should 
speak  and  write  with  grammatical  accuracy,  in  order  to 
distinguish  their  effusions  from  those  of  the  untaught 
multitude. 

At  first,  children  learn  by  single  words,  which  is  only 
endurable,  while  they  are  so  young  as  to  be  only  capa- 
ble of  receiving  a  few  simple  ideas ;  it  would  be  endless 
to  endeavour  to  teach  a  whole  language  by  single 
words.  The  science  of  grammar  therefore,  steps  in, 


324  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  by  teaching  the  child  a  few  general  rules,  together 
with  their  application,  enables  it  to  understand  all  the 
particulars  of  that  language,  so  reduced  to  general  rules 
and  principles,  indeed,  all  sciences  rest  upon  general 
rules  and  principles  as  their  basis ;  and  thus,  not  only 
render  knowledge  more  ready  at  our  call,  and  more 
easy  of  application,  but  also  enable  us  continually  to  in- 
crease its  limits.  Savages  teach  their  children  by  sin- 
gle words,  and  how  scanty  and  imperfect  are  their  lan- 
guages !  Infants  can  only  be  taught  in  detail,  by  single 
words;  but  as  soon  as  the  mind  begins  to  open,  and  is 
able  to  rise  from  details  to  general  rules,  grammar  is 
taught  them,  in  order  to  facilitate,  and  render  sure  and 
permanent  the  acquisition  of  language. 

Teaching  language  without  the  help  of  grammar, 
was  a  favourite  scheme  of  Mr.  Locke,  who  in  his  book 
on  education  says,  ^that  languages  learned  by  rote, 
serve  well  enough  for  the  common  affairs  of  life,  and 
ordinary  commerce."  Now  allowing  this  to  be  the  fact, 
is  it  such  a  knowledge  of  language,  as  to  enable  a  per- 
son to  speak  and  write  it  correctly  ?  If  not,  why  dis- 
card the  use  of  grammar  ?  The  truth  is,  Mr.  Locke's 
book  is  a  very  meagre  performance ;  not  calculated  to 
give  the  student  enlarged  and  comprehensive  views,  but 
intended  merely  for  the  use  of  country  gentlemen  ;  and  all 
the  world  knows  what  sort  of  philosophers  the  English 
country  squires  were  a  hundred  years  since.  His  re- 
marks upon  poetry  and  language,  are  peculiarly  frigid 
and  unsatisfactory.  The  Treatises  on  Education,  by 
Dr.  Knox  and  Dr.  Barrow,  contain  ample  refutations  of 
all  Mr.  Locke's  anti-classical  heresies.  Nay,  but  these 
very  men  who  explode  the  use  of  grammar  in  teaching 
boys,  admit  that  when  these  boys  grow  up,  they  must 
study  grammar,  to  obtain  a  more  critical  knowledge  of 
the  language.  The  whole  of  this  boasted  method  then, 
at  last,  resolves  itself  into  this,  that  grammar  is  of  no  use 
in  teaching  a  language,  but  a  boy  must  learn  a  diction- 
ary by  heart,  and  read  a  great  deal,  and  after  several 
years  so  spent,  he  must  then  learn  the  grammar,  in  or* 
der  to  understand  the  language. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


But  is  it  likely  that  boys  who  have  been  taught  in  so 
desultory  and  unconnected  a  manner,  will  study  gram- 
mar when  they  become  men  ?  It  is  better  to  begin  at 
the  right  end,  and  teach  the  grammar  in  the  first  in- 
stance ;  for  each  general  rule  of  grammar,  by  its  appli- 
cation to  a  multitude  of  particulars,  is  surely  a  readier 
and  more  certain  method  of  teaching  a  language,  than 
by  learning  single  words,  or  detached  phrases,  without 
any  general  rules  by  which  light  can  be  thrown  upon 
the  different  parts  of  the  language,  and  by  which  those 
different  parts  can  be  conjoined,  so  as  to  constitute  a 
whole,  correct  in  its  symmetry,  and  fair  in  its  propor- 
tions. And  requiring  boys  to  commit  the  grammar  to 
memory,  and  to  apply  its  rules  to  the  words  and  phrases, 
that  occur  in  the  course  of  reading;  which  is  called 
parsing,  or  analyzing  the  language,  is  a  better  exercise 
of  the  mind,  and  better  calculated  to  unfold  the  reason- 
ing powers,  than  working  a  proposition  in  Euclid. 

"  The  study  of  grammar  requires  more  force  of  atten- 
tion, and  connexion  of  thought,  than  that  of  mathema- 
tics. Grammar  unites  ideas,  as  calculation  combines 
figures  ;  and  its  logic  is  as  precise  as  that  of  algebra  ; 
with  the  additional  advantage  of  making  at  the  same 
time,  a  direct  and  powerful  application  to  all  that  is  alive 
and  vigorous  in  the  mind.  Words  at  once  denote 
sounds,  and  numbers,  and  images,  to  excite  emotions  in 
the  understanding.  They  are  subject  to  the  strict  dis- 
cipline of  syntax,  and  yet  full  of  the  native  force  and 
signification  of  the  ideas  they  conventionally  represent. 
In  the  metaphysics  of  grammar,  the  philosophy  of  lan- 
guage, energy  of  thought,  and  accuracy  of  reasoning, 
are  intimately  united." 

England  and  Ireland  have,  for  some  conturies  past, 
produced  the  most  accomplished  classical  scholars  in  the 
world  ;  and  they  teach  Latin  and  Greek  by  the  gram- 
mar. Now,  it  will  require  very  strong  evidence  to  prove 
the  superiority  of  any  new-fangled  theory,  to  a  method 
whose  entire  success  has  been  established  by  a  series  of 
national  facts,  for  so  great  a  length  of  time. 


326  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Nevertheless,  we  shall  probably  witness  the  abolition 
of  grammar,  as  the  basis  of  classical  study  in  the  United 
States ;  for  some  of  our  college-professors  maintain  the 
necessity  of  teaching  Latin  and  Greek  without  gram- 
mar ;  and  triumphantly  ask,  "  if  children  are  not  taught 
to  speak,  and  write  English  without  the  use  of  gram- 
mar, merely  by  reading,  and  committing  the  dictionary 
to  memory?" — To  which  the  answer  is  obvious  ;  that 
those,  who  have  never  learned  grammar  of  any  kind,  are 
not  apt  to  write,  if  to  speak  English  correctly ;  besides, 
there  are  no  opportunities  of  teaching  a  dead,  as  we  can 
a  living  language,  by  speaking  it.  Nor  are  the  facilities 
of  reading  it  so  great.  The  utmost  that  this  rote-method 
of  teaching  languages,  without  the  aid  of  grammar,  can 
accomplish,  is  to  enable  people  to  prattle  in  a  living 
tongue,  upon  the  ordinary  topics  of  every-day  discourse  ; 
but  it  cannot  teach  them  to  write  correctly,  even  in  a 
living  tongue ;  and,  certainly,  will  give  only  a  very  su- 
perficial knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages. 
For  undeniable  witnesses  to  the  truth  of  this  assertion, 
we  refer  to  those  amongst  us,  who  have  been  taught 
the  classics  in  this  way. 

In  this  city,  the  grammar-schools  are  as  good  as  in 
any  part  of  the  union,  and  there  are  some  few  excellent 
teachers,  gentlemen,  who  have  made  teaching  their  pro- 
fession, and  are  themselves  good  classical  scholars.  But 
New-York  has  her  full  share  of  inefficient  preceptors. 

A  deep  conviction  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  our 
elementary  schools,  induced  the  President  of  Columbia 
College,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Harris,  in  the  year  1816,  to  lay 
before  the  Board  of  Trustees  a  plan  for  establishing  a 
seminary  of  instruction,  similar  to  the  high  school  in 
Edinburgh,  and  attaching  it  to  the  college,  as  an  insti- 
tution that  might  prepare  boys  for  entering  with  effect 
on  their  collegiate  course ;  the  senior  form  of  the  gram- 
mar school  being,  after  due  examination,  to  be  transfer- 
red into  the  college  freshman-class.  This  plan,  the  out- 
line and  details  of  which  appear  to  be  veryjudicious,  has 
not  yet  besn  adopted  by  me  Trustees  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  327 

If  the  grammar  schools  are  deficient,  if  the  rudiments 
of  the  classics  are  not  accurately  taught ;  if  the  boy  is 
only  crammed  with  a  senseless  jargon,  conned  by  rote, 
and  mechanically  remembered,  of  course  our  colleges 
and  universities  cannot  be  calculated  to  produce  good 
scholars.  Where  no  foundation  is  laid,  no  superstruc- 
ture can  be  reared ;  what  is  never  begun,  can  never  be 
finished.  If  the  grammar  schools  transmit  to  the  col- 
leges boys  ignorant  of  the  first  principles  of  a  liberal 
education,  the  colleges  will,  in  due  season,  send  out  into 
the  world  those  boys,  empty  and  uninformed,  to  dis- 
charge the  important  functions  of  legislating  and  admi- 
nistering government  and  justice,  for  a  great  and  rising 
empire.  Our  boys,  generally,  enter  college  at  fourteen, 
and  commence  their  baccalaureate  at  eighteen  years  of 
age,  when  they  begin  their  studies  for  the  profession  of 
law,  or  divinity,  or  physic,  or  enter  the  counting-house 
of  a  merchant,  where,  of  course,  all  studies,  excepting 
the  leger  and  the  newspaper,  are  laid  aside.  Nor  do 
the  professional  students  often  prosecute  classical  stu- 
dies to  any  great  extent  or  depth.  Nor  is  it  to  be  ex- 
pected, seeing,  that  in  the  colleges,  the  pupils  are  not 
very  comprehensively  instructed  in  the  classics,  or  belles- 
lettres,  rhetoric,  or  moral  philosophy,  or  history,  or  poli- 
tical economy,  or  natural  philosophy,  or  metaphysics,  or 
any  of  those  great  branches  of  knowledge,  peculiarly 
fitted  to  invigorate,  enlarge,  and  adorn  the  intellect. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  American  colleges,  generally, 
are  suffered  to  languish  for  want  of  sufficient  funds, 
either  from  private  contributions  or  the  aid  of  govern- 
ment. Whence,  they  can  seldom  offer  a  bounty  high 
enough  to  procure,  as  presidents  and  professors,  men  of 
talents  and  information  sufficiently  forcible  and  extensive 
to  lead  the  minds  of  their  pupils  to  literary  excellence, 
or  inspire  them  with  an  inextinguishable  ardour  for  im- 
provement. For  men  of  powerful  intellect  generally 
know  their  own  value,  and  cannot  often  be  induced  to 
starve  upon  a  scanty  stipend,  when  a  different  direction 
of  their  time,  industry,  and  talents,  might  conduct  them 
to  honour  and  independence.  The  phrensy  for  multiply- 


328  RESOURCES  OF  THE  tWITED  STATES. 

ing  colleges  all  over  the  union,  and  the  custom  of  ap- 
pointing illiterate  men  as  trustees,  also  retard  the  pro- 
gress of  literature,  bj  diminishing  the  number  of  stu- 
dents at  each  college,  and  thus  lessening  the  means  of 
its  support,  and  by  ensuring  the  appointmeut  of  absurd 
regulations,  and  impracticable  plans  of  study.  Whence, 
altogether,  Dr.  Johnson's  sarcasm  is  much  more  appli- 
cable to  the  United  States  than  to  the  country  at  which 
it  was  originally  levelled,  namely,  "  learning  here  is  like 
bread  in  a  besieged  town,  every  man  has  a  mouthful, 
and  no  one  a  belly  full." 

There  are  about  fifty  colleges  in  the  United  States  ; 
almost  every  State  having  two  or  three.  Of  these, 
Harvard  in  Massachusetts,  Yale  in  Connecticut,  and 
Princeton  in  New-Jersey,  stand  highest  in  numbers  and 
reputation.  Harvard  is  the  most  munificently  endowed 
of  all  the  American  colleges ;  the  people  of  Boston 
wisely  considering  that  the  encouragement  of  sound 
literature  is  one  of  the  main  supports  of  national  great- 
ness and  elevation.  It  has  thirteen  professorships,  and 
affords  a  wider  range  of  liberal  instruction  than  any 
other  college  in  the  United  States.  Yale  owes  its  high 
eminence  to  the  exertions  of  its  late  president,  Doctor 
Dwight,  who,  perhaps  more  than  any  man  of  his  age, 
united  in  himself  great  talents,  extensive  learning,  steady 
authority,  affectionate  regard,  and  practical  wisdom,  to 
discern  time  and  circumstance,  and  convert  every  thing 
to  the  advantage  of  the  institution  which  he  governed, 
and  the  pupils  whom  he  instructed.  Columbia  College 
ought  to  equal,  if  not  surpass,  every  other  college  in  me 
Union.  Its  outline  of  study,  prescribed  by  the  statutes, 
is  excellent ;  and  it  is  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  most 
populous  and  opulent  city  in  the  United  States  at  pre- 
sent, and  which  possesses  the  greatest  capacities  of  fu- 
ture increase ;  and,  yet,  it  numbers  but  one  hundred 
students,  while  Princeton  has  two,  Yale  three,  and  Har- 
vard four  hundred. 

Scarcely  any  systematic  lectures  on  moral  philosophy, 
metaphysics,  political  economy,  history,  belles  lettres* 
and  rhetoric,  are  delivered  in  our  colleges.  I  know  but 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  two  instances;  those  of  Doctor  Smith,  late  President 
of  Princeton,  on  "  moral  and  political  philosophy ;"  and 
those  of  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  now  Secretary  of 
State,  on  "  belles  lettres  and  rhetoric,"  when  he  was 
professor  at  Harvard.  Mr.  Adams's  lectures  contain 
an  abundance  of  useful  learning,  well  collected,  and 
many  able  observations  and  inferences ;  but  the  style  is 
occasionally  too  inflated  and  mysterious.  Those  of 
Doctor  Smith  are  excellent  so  far  as  relates  to  the  ethi- 
cal part ;  but  the  lecturer  not  being  either  a  civilian  or 
political  economist,  the  two  great  branches  of  political 
philosophy,  and  the  law  of  nations,  are  very  slightly 
touched.  In  the  European  colleges  these  subjects  have 
employed  the  ablest  talents ;  and  Doctor  Ferguson's 
"  Moral  Science,"  Dr.  Smith's  "  Wealth  of  Nations," 
Mr.  Tytler's  (Lord  Woodhouselee's,)  "  Elements  of 
History,"  Professor  Millar's  "Origin  of  Ranks,"  and 
Mr.  Dugald  Stuart's  "  Elements  of  the  Philosopy  of 
the  Human  Mind ;"  all  the  substance  of  lectures  deliver- 
ed by  their  respective  authors,  are  among  the  most  in- 
structive and  interesting  works  ever  delivered  to  the 
world.  Perhaps  no  want  is  more  urgent  in  our  colleges 
than  that  of  a  course  of  lectures  on  history;  of  which, 
whether  general,  as  of  the  world  at  large,  or  of  particu- 
lar countries,  the  Americans,  men,  women,  and  children, 
are  lamentably  ignorant. 

One  reason,  perhaps,  why  lectures  are  so  seldom  de- 
livered on  great  general  subjects,  in  the  American  col- 
leges, is  the  incessant  tendency  of  the  clergy  to  monopo- 
lize the  professors'  chairs.  This  is  the  case  with  all  the 
clerical  denominations,  according  to  their  ascendancy  in 
the  various  colleges,  whether  Episcopalian,  or  Presby- 
terian, or  Independent,  or  Baptist.  During  the  dark 
ages  of  feudal  Europe,  there  was  some  excuse  for  the 
ecclesiatical  monopoly  of  education,  because  the  very 
little  learning  then  afloat  was  confined  to  the  clergy ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  European  laity  had  learned  to  read 
and  write,  this  monopoly  ceased;  and  laymen  produced 
such  lectures  on  moral  philosophy,  political  economy, 
metaphysics,  and  history,  as  the  combined  clergy  of 

42 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Christendom  have  never  equalled.  The  clergy  of  the 
United  States,  however,  can  set  up  no  such  exclusive 
claim;  because  they  are  not  a  more  generally  learned 
body  than  the  laity.  Indeed,  their  education  very  sel- 
dom comprises  within  its  range  a  very  profound  or  ex- 
tensive acquaintance  with  history,  or  political  philoso- 
phy, or  metaphysics ;  it  is,  for  the  most  part,  confined 
to  the  acquisition  of  a  little  Latin,  and  less  Greek,  and 
their  own  peculiar  system  of  theology,  whether  Calvin- 
istic,  or  Arminian,  or  Arian,  or  Unitarian,  together  with 
such  miscellaneous  reading  as  they  may  be  able  to 
snatch  in  the  brief  intervals  of  time  between  the  compo- 
sition of  sermons,  the  details  of  parochial  business,  pas- 
toral visits  to  their  flock,  morning  calls,  dinings  out,  tea 
and  evening  parties.  It  is  to  be  remembered  too,  that, 
their  previous  preparation  generally  consists  in  going  to 
an  indifferent  grammar  school,  till  fourteen ;  then  enter- 
ing college,  which  is  left  at  eighteen  :  then  studying  di- 
vinity, and  at  twenty-one  beginning  to  preach. 

Besides,  the  clergy  of  the  United  States,  for  reasons 
given  in  a  preceding  chapter,  are  not  often  men  of  primary 
talents.  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  controlling  influence  of 
piety  drives  men  of  great  talents  into  the  church ;  and 
sometimes,  perhaps,  other  circumstances ;  but,  generally 
speaking;,  no  one  clerical  denomination  possesses  a  large 
proportion  of  the  strong  and  active  talent  of  the  coun- 
try, which  is,  for  the  most  part,  seduced  into  the  law, 
physic,  and  merchandise,  by  the  more  splendid  rewards 
of  wealth,  reputation,  and  influence,  held  out  by  those 
callings.  Whence,  in  fact,  the  philosophical  chairs  in 
our  colleges  are  not  often  filled ;  instead  of  a  full,  sys- 
'  tematic  course  of  moral  philosophy,  including  the  three 
great  branches  of  ethics,  political  economy,  and  inter- 
national law,  Beattie's  Syllabus,  or  Paley's  Treatise,  is 
given  to  the  boys,  who  learn  by  rote,  and  transcribe 
some  pages  of  the  book,  with  probably  here  and  there 
a  remark  from  the  professor.  Conning  over  "  Blair's 
Lectures,"  generally  serves  both  master  and  pupil  for 
a  course  of  belles  lettres  and  rhetoric;  and  VattePs 
little  Outline  of  the  Law  of  Nations,  read,  and  partly 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

transcribed,  completes  the  circle  of  international  law. 
As  for  metaphysics  and  political  economy,  they  receive 
a  very  slender  portion  of  regard. 

The  elocution,  in  the  colleges,  is  in  general  extreme- 
ly vitious;  in  addition  to  the  common  nuisance  of  a 
mouthing,  monotonous  rant,  a  nasal  twang  pervades  the 
pronunciation.  This  eloquence  of  the  nose,  rather  than 
of  the  mouth,  prevails  greatly  in  New-England,  whose 
surplus  population  has  long  been  spread  annually  over 
New-York  and  the  Western  States ;  whence  this  mode 
of  elocution  is  continually  gaining  ground  throughout 
the  Union.  Its  origin  is  supposed  to  be  traced  to  the 
county  of  Kent,  in  England,  and  it  greatly  resembles 
the  nasal  sing-song,  or  eternal  chant  of  the  few  elder 
Scottish  congregations,  whether  Covenanters  or  Sece- 
ders,  that  are  yet  to  be  found  in  this  country.  Unfor- 
tunately, our  ears  are  saluted  with  these  funereal  sounds 
at  the  bar,  from  the  pulpit,  and  ex  cathedra,  in  the  col- 
leges. In  common  conversation  also,  we  meet  them ; — 
and  even  the  roseate  lips  of  female  loveliness  occasionally 
condescend  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  nasal  organ  to  tem- 
per the  sweetness  of  their  silver  tones. 

Now,  a  distinct,  various,  well-adapted,  impressive  ut* 
terance,  is  necessary  to  all  who  desire  to  render  their 
conversation  instructive  and  pleasing.  And  how  much 
of  life  depends  upon  conversation  for  its  means  of  im- 
provement and  delight !  how  much  it  heightens  domes- 
tic endearments,  irradiates  social  intercourse,  enforces 
parental  instruction,  deepens  filial  reverence,  and  exalts 
brotherly  affection.  In  public  life,  a  prompt  and  vigor- 
ous elocution  is  essential  to  the  acquisition  and  mainte- 
nance of  that  personal  influence  over  the  feelings, 
opinions,  passions,  and  actions  of  others  ;  without  which 
human  communities  would  be  deprived  of  their  greatest 
cement  of  union,  and  best  guide  to  exertion.  Without 
the  aid  of  felicitous  delivery,  in  vain  may  the  divine,  the 
politician,  lawyer,  or  teacher,  endeavour  to  give  to  their 
respective  sentiments,  doctrines,  and  arguments,  their 
due  weight  and  efficacy.  Without  the  accompaniments 
of  clearness,  and  force  of  enunciation,  variety  and  adap- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tation  of  emphasis,  precision  and  fulness  of  delivery,  the 
loftiest  sentiments,  the  most  powerful  reasonings,  the 
tenderest  touches  of  feeling,  the  most  animated  flashes 
of  real  eloquence,  are  to  the  unfortunate  audience  tame 
and  unimpressive. 

The  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans,  in  the  best  days 
of  their  republics,  made  the  study  of  elocution  an  essen- 
tial part  01  liberal  education.  Many  years  were  devo- 
ted to  learning,  in  the  schools  of  rhetoric,  the  rules  and 
elements  of  appropriate  and  energetic  delivery.  Nei- 
ther Demosthenes  nor  Cicero  would  have  deemed  him- 
self qualified  to  appear  as  a  public  speaker  at  the  bar, 
or  in  the  Senate,  until  he  had  diligently  studied  the 
means  of  obtaining  a  prompt,  easy,  apt,  and  forceful  ut- 
terance. But  the  scholars,  and  great  men  of  modern 
Christendom  have,  in  general,  been  too  negligent  of 
their  delivery,  both  in  reading  and  speaking.  Whence, 
it  is  not  uncommon  to  hear,  from  the  pulpit,  at  the  bar, 
and  in  the  Senate,  orations,  full  of  learning,  argument, 
and  eloquence,  so  marred  in  the  enunciation  as  nearly 
to  destroy  their  effect.  The  public  speaking  and  read- 
ing of  the  present  day  is  too  often  disgraced,  either  by 
a  drawling,  drivelling  monotony,  or  a  quick,  indistinct, 
sing-song  cadence.  The  whole  law  of  eloquence  is 
comprised  in  a  single  sentence ;  "  gravitas  sententiarum, 
splendor  verborum,  proprietas  actionis  :" — weight  of 
sense,  splendour  of  language,  and  aptness  of  delivery. 
The  three  requisites  of  good  delivery,  or  elocution,  are 
a  clear  and  distinct  articulation  of  every  word,  syllable, 
and  letter ;  an  adaptation  of  the  various  inflections  and 
intonations  of  the  voice  to  the  various  sense  and  feeling 
of  what  is  spoken  or  read,  and  the  following  of  the  ac- 
tion or  gesture,  as  a  faithful  expositor  of  the  feeling  and 
sense  exhibited  by  the  reader  and  speaker. 

But  what  a  difference  is  generally  exhibited  between 

1  •  '         J     i  r 

the  easy,  various,  apt,  energetic,  and  natural  tones  oi 
animated  conversation,  and  the  stiff,  constrained,  mono- 
tonous, vapid,  and  unnatural  sounds  emitted  in  public 
reading  and  speaking.  Children  almost  universally  are 
taught  to  read  in  a  different  manner,  and  to  use  different 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  333 

tones,  cadences,  pauses,  and  emphases  from  those  which 
nature  dictates  by  the  impulses  of  feeling  and  passion 
in  unconstrained  conversation.  And  this  artificial,  un- 
natural method,  is  either  inculcated  or  tolerated  in  the 
recitals,  public  speakings,  readings,  and  declamations  of 
schools  and  colleges.  These  reading  and  speaking 
tones  are  seldom  more  than  two ;  one,  marking,  that 
the  sense  is  not  quite  completed,  the  other,  that  the 
sentence  is  closed.  The  first  one  consists  of  a  uniform 
elevation,  the  second  of  a  uniform  depression  of  voice. 
Hence  arises  the  unnatural  and  monotonous  manner  of 
reading  and  speaking  which  is  so  prevalent,  and  which 
habit  only  renders  more  inveterate  and  incurable.  The 
only  effectual  remedy  would  be,  to  make  the  study  of 
elocution  an  essential  part  of  liberal  education.  At 
present,  the  rudiments  of  delivery  are  generally  taught 
by  unintelligent  dames,  and  old  women,  or  illiterate 
men,  who  are  quite  ignorant  of  the  general  principles 
and  practical  rules  of  elocution.  And,  when  boys  thus 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  bad  reading  are  transfer- 
red to  the  grammar-school,  the  matter  is  not  mended. 
For  the  teachers  are  too  much  absorbed  in  drilling  their 
young  recruits  in  construing  and  parsing,  to  pay  any 
attention  to  the  manner  in  which  they  read  and  speak 
their  own  vernacular  tongue.  We  are  not  then  to  mar- 
vel, that  a  thick  and  indistinct,  a  monotonous,  drawling, 
and  vapid  elocution  is  so  general. 

Next  to  the  acquisition  of  that  primary  requisite  of 
good  delivery,  a  clear,  distinct,  and  forcible  articulation, 
the  student  should  labour  to  obtain  a  proper  pronuncia- 
tion, or  the  most  approved  method  of  sounding  words, 
including  the  intonation  and  inflexion  of  the  voice,  the 
accent  and  emphasis.  An  awkward  pronunciation,  a 
bad  management  of  the  voice,  the  pitching  too  high  or 
too  low  a  key-note,  speaking  too  loudly,  or  feebly,  to 
be  distinctly  heard,  the  use  of  harsh  intonations,  of 
false,  uncertain,  irregular  cadences  and  emphases,  are 
the  peculiar  imperfections  of  particular  classes  of  men 
in  every  community,  and  spring  from  a  faulty  education, 
vulgar  society,  low  examples,  inveterate  habits,  and 


334  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

provincial  barbarisms.  The  difference  of  pronunciation, 
between  different  men,  relates  to  bodies  rather  than 
individuals,  whether  inhabitants  of  the  same  or  different 
countries.  For  instance,  the  English,  Irish,  and  Scot- 
tish, have  each  their  own  peculiar  idiom  in  pronouncing 
the  English  tongue;  and  also  the  different  provinces 
and  counties  of  each  of  those  nations  have  a  peculiar 
dialect;  whence,  not  only  do  the  Scottish,  Irish,  and 
English  differ  from  each  other  in  the  pronunciation  of 
the  same  language,  but  the  Aberdeen  dialect  is  scarcely 
intelligible  to  a  man  of  Edinburgh ;  that  of  Dublin  to 
the  people  of  Belfast;  that  of  Cornwall  to  the  cockneys 
in  London.  The  great  object,  therefore,  is  to  discover 
the  standard  pronunciation  of  a  country.  In  every  en- 
tire, consolidated  sovereignty,  the  seat  of  government 
or  court  fixes  and  regulates  that  standard.  The  Court 
at  Paris  is  the  model  for  all  those  who  aspire  to  speak 
French  exquisitely ;  the  Court  of  Madrid  is  the  pattern 
of  Spanish  pronunciation ;  that  of  Berlin  regulates  the 
pronunciation  of  the  north,  as  the  Cabinet  of  Vienna 
does  that  of  the  south  of  Germany;  the  government 
circle  in  London  gives  the  tone  of  pronunciation  to  all 
those  in  the  British  Isles  who  profess  to  be  liberally 
educated  and  well-bred.  All  other  idioms  or  dialects 
are  considered  as  tokens  of  a  low  and  defective  educa- 
tion, and,  as  such,  disgraceful.  This  standard  pronun- 
ciation 'Tbeing,  in  its  minuter  niceties,  continually  fluc- 
tuating with  the  fluctuations  of  the  manners  and  fashions 
of  the  age,  cannot  easily  be  taught  by  written  or  printed 
rules,  but  can  be  acquired  only  by  habits  of  inter- 
course and  conversation  with  those  who  have  been  thus 
liberally  trained. 

These  observations,  however,  do  not  apply  to  the 
United  States,  where  there  is  no  standard  pronunciation 
of  the  English  language.  For  America  not  being  a 
consolidated  sovereignty,  but  a  confederacy  of  independ- 
ent States,  no  one  State  or  portion  of  the  Union  can  ar- 
rogate to  itself  the  privilege  of  fixing  the  standard  by 
which  every  well-bred  American  shall  regulate  his  pro- 
nunciation. Massachusetts  will  not  implicitly  follow  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

government  pronunciation  of  New-Orleans,  or  Georgia, 
or  the  Carolinas,  or  Virginia,  or  Maryland ;  nor  will 
New-York  pride  itself  in  copying  the  court  enunciation 
of  New-Jersey,  or  Pennsylvania,  or  Ohio,  or  Kentucky, 
or  Tennessee,  or  Indiana,  or  Mississippi.  And  still  less, 
will  any  of  these  republican  sovereignties  suffer  the  fe- 
deral city  of  Washington  to  prescribe  the  courtly  stand- 
ard of  pronunciation.  Nor  do  the  separate  States  look 
to  their  own  seats  of  government  as  the  models  of  pro- 
nunciation. The  people  of  New-York  are  not  anxious 
to  adopt  the  mode  used  by  their  Governor,  Senators, 
and  Representatives,  convened  at  Albany ;  nor  are  the 
gentlemen  of  Philadelphia  ambitious  to  copy  the  govern- 
ment enunciation  of  Lancaster  or  Harrisburgh. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  greater  uniformity  in  the 
pronunciation  of  English,  and  less  diversity  of  dialects, 
idioms,  and  provincialisms,  in  the  United  States,  than  in 
England,  Ireland,  or  Scotland.  The  people  of  Georgia 
and  Massachusetts,  of  Connecticut  and  Virginia,  of  New- 
York  and  Kentucky,  approximate  much  nearer  to  each 
other's  pronunciation,  than  do  the  natives  of  York  and 
Devon,  of  Dublin  and  Donaghadee,  of  Edinburgh  and 
Inverness.  Some  of  the  reasons  for  this  great  equality 
of  American  pronunciation  are,  that  the  United  States 
were  chiefly  settled  by  Englishmen,  in  the  times  of  Eli- 
zabeth, James  the  first,  and  the  two  Charleses.  These 
first  settlers,  particularly  in  New-England,  were  gene- 
rally people  of  some  education,  as  well  as  of  strong  re- 
ligious feeling ;  and  therefore  less  likely  to  be  infected 
with  the  peculiar  dialects,  and  provincial  idioms  of  the 
places  whence  they  emigrated.  The  Americans  also, 
are  a  very  enterprising  locomotive  people ;  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  different  States  intercommunicate  much  with 
each  other,  and  consequently  assimilate  in  the  pronun- 
ciation of  that  vernacular  tongue  common  to  them  all. 
And  their  having  no  national  standard  induces  them 
to  look  to  that  of  England  for  their  model;  with  this 
advantage,  that  whereas  in  England,  every  different 
county  has  a  different  dialect,  the  United  States  escape 
the  importation  of  these,  and  follow  as  nearly  as  they 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

can,  the  best  English  standard,  by  the  help  of  approved 
written  rules  and  regulations,  and  the  personal  inter- 
course of  some  of  their  most  intelligent  citizens,  with 
the  best  society  in  the  British  metropolis. 

The  question  has  been  much  debated,  whether  mo 
dern  nations  should  pronounce  Greek  and  Latin  accord- 
ing to  the  analogies  of  their  own  living  languages ;  or 
establish  a  uniform  pronunciation,  that  of  me  Greeks 
and  Romans  themselves.  The  great  objection  to  a  plan 
of  universal  pronunciation  is,  that  we  know  very  little, 
as  to  what  was  the  Greek  and  Roman  pronunciation. 
Scholars,  to  this  day,  are  much  divided  in  opinion  upon 
this  subject ;  and  at  least,  until  their  discussions  can  be 
adjusted,  may  not  the  English  continue  their  own  mode 
of  pronouncing  Greek  and  Latin,  which  is  in  full  ac- 
cordance with  the  analogy  of  their  own  living  tongue ; 
even  if  it  does  not  approximate  in  some  few  instances 
so  nearly  to  the  ancient  pronunciation,  as  the  Italian, 
French,  German,  and  Scottish  modes  ?  For  AVC  have 
no  means  of  ascertaining  how  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
actually  pronounced  the  great  proportion  of  their  lan- 
guages ;  and  we  do  know,  that  all  their  idioms  arid  dia- 
lects, all  their  nicer  tones  and  varieties  of  inflexion,  have 
perished  for  ever. 

The  Americans  speak  English  all  over  the  union,  yet 
read  Greek  and  Latin  with  the  Scottish  pronunciation. 
The  reason  of  this  anomaly  is,  that  although  English  is 
their  mother-tongue,  yet,  ever  since  the  country  has 
been  settled,  the  dead  languages  have  been  generally 
taught  by  Scottish  schoolmasters  and  professors,  who 
grafted  their  own  mode  of  pronunciation  upon  the  na- 
tive stock  of  English  HI  the  United  States.  The  Scot- 

O 

tish,  as  a  people,  are  more  generally  educated  than  the 
English,  and,  consequently,  being  more  enterprising? 
spread  themselves,  in  greater  numbers,  as  teachers,  all 
over  the  world.  The  most  universally  intelligent,  are 
always  the  most  enterprising  and  industrious  nations. 
The  Scottish  pronunciation  of  Greek  and  Latin  more 
nearly  resembles  that  of  the  French,  Italians,  Spaniards, 
and  continental  Europeans  generally,  than  does  the  Eng- 


t-.  •"• 

RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  337 

lish ;  because  the  Scottish  mode  of  pronouncing  English 
bears  a  greater  resemblance  to  the  vernacular  pronun- 
ciation of  the  European  continent;  which  mode  is  sup- 
posed also  to  approximate  nearer  than  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish, to  the  pronunciation  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and 
Romans. 

But  there  appears  to  be  no  good  reason  why  the 
Americans,  who,  in  general,  pronounce  the  English  lan- 
guage in  greater  purity  than  the  people  of  England, 
should  violate  all  the  analogies  of  their  own  living  pro- 
nunciation, and  engraft  into  their  classical  utterance  a  fo- 
reign tone  and  accent,  borrowed  from  the  Scottish,  whose 
idioms,  intonations,  and  inflexions,  are  altogether  alien 
from  their  own.  Nor  can  this  habit  long  continue  in 
the  United  States ;  for  they  will  soon  cease  to  look  to 
Scotland  for  teachers  of  the  dead  languages.  And 
when  American  scholars  instruct  the  youth  of  this  coun- 
try, they  will,  of  course,  follow  the  genius  and  character 
of  their  own  language,  whose  analogies  will  eventually 
eradicate  all  the  vestiges  of  Scottish  pronunciation; 
which,  even  now,  does  not  pervade  the  union  ;  for  at  the 
colleges  of  Schenectady,  in  New-York,  Princeton,  in 
New-Jersey,  and  of  New-England,  generally,  the  stu- 
dents are  taught  to  read  and  speak  the  classics  after 
the  English  mode. 

The  object  to  be  acquired  is,  to  ascertain  the  English 
quantity,  with  which  the  vowels  and  consonants  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  languages  are  to  be  pronounced ;  and 
then  give  utterance  to  these  learned  tongues,  with  the 
same  distinct  and  manly  articulation,  the  same  bold  and 
impressive  intonations,  the  same  force  of  emphasis  and 
variety  of  cadence,  with  which  the  best  English  poets 
and  prose  writers  are  read  and  spoken.  This,  however, 
cannot  be  accomplished  by  the  mere  knowledge  of  the 
dead  languages,  but  by  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  general  analogies  and  floating  usages  of  our  own 
mother  tongue.  And  in  the  nature  of  things,  and  the 
radical  conformation  of  the  human  mind,  these  analogies 
must,  always  enter  largely  into  the  scholar's  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  dead  languages.  And,  in  fact,  every  nation 

43 


338  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UKITED  STATES. 

does  pursue  this  course ;  the  Scottish,  French,  Italians, 
Germans,  and  Spaniards,  all  pronounce  Greek  and  La- 
tin, according  to  the  analogies  of  their  own  living 
tongues;  and  what  reason  can  be  assigned  why  the 
Americans  and  English,  who  both  speak  one  common 
language,  whose  mother  tongue  is  neither  Spanish  nor 
German,  nor  Italian,  nor  French,  nor  Scottish,  should 
not  be  permitted  to  follow  the  same  law  of  nature,  rea- 
son, and  liberty,  in  pronouncing  the  dead  languages, 
according  to  the  analogies  of  their  own  living  idiom? 
On  what  principle  should  a  Frenchman  or  Scotchman 
undertake  to  teach  an  American  or  Englishman  to  read 
and  speak  Latin  and  Greek,  with  a  French  or  Scottish 
pronunciation,  which  would  not  equally  justify  teaching 
the  pupil  to  read  and  speak  English  with  a  French  or 
Scottish  pronunciation?  Let  then  a  Scotchman  and 
Frenchman,  as  long  as  they  continue  to  talk  Scottish 
and  French,  follow  the  analogies  of  their  own  living 
tongues  in  pronouncing  the  dead  languages,  and  also 
let  the  numerous  and  growing  millions  of  America  and 
England  pronounce  the  classical  tongues  according  to 
the  general  analogies  and  best  usages  of  their  own  liv- 
ing language ;  and  cherish  that  English  pronunciation, 
which  has  taken  deep  root,  and  sprung  up  aloft  in  their 
own  native  soil ;  which  is  congenial  to  the  frame  and 
character  of  their  language ;  which  owes  its  origin  to 
the  habits  and  manners,  the  ideas,  opinions,  and  senti- 
ments, the  peculiarities,  views,  intelligence,  and  national 
achievements  of  the  people. 

The  custom  which  regulates  the  pronunciation  of  alt 
living  languages,  is  not  made  up  altogether  of  the  usage 
of  the  mere  multitude  of  speakers  in  a  community, 
counted  numerically,  and  suffered  to  vote,  per  capita,  for 
the  standard  of  national  utterance ;  nor  does  it  spring 
entirely  from  the  usages  of  the  studious,  in  the  recesses 
of  their  halls  and  colleges ;  nor  does  it  owe  its  origin  to 
the  unmingled  efforts  and  effusions  of  the  affluent,  gay, 
and  fashionable  portion  of  society ;  but  is  compounded 
of  the  usages  of  all  these  three  classes  of  men.  The 
learning  of  the  scholars  acts  as  a  restraint  and  balance- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  339 

wheel,  alike  upon  the  frivolous  affectation  and  ever- 
shifting  caprice  of  the  wealthy  and  fashionable,  and 
upon  the  illiterateness  and  ignorance  of  the  multitude ; 
the  refinement  and  delicacy  of  the  well  bred  and  po- 
lished curb,  and  diminish  the  pedantry  of  the  mere  scho- 
lar, and  soften  the  rude,  forward  vulgarity  of  the  unedu- 
cated and  uninformed ;  while  the  plain,  strong,  home- 
bred, practical  common  sense  of  the  industrious  orders, 
erects  a  barrier  of  equal  force  against  the  light  and  airy 
incursions  of  fashion,  and  the  ponderous  attacks  of  la» 
borious  scholarship.  The  Latin  and  Greek  infusions  of 
the  schools,  the  nicer  peculiarities  of  polished  life,  and 
the  native  provincialisms  of  the  irregularly  educated, 
must  all  be  received  and  tolerated  by  each  other,  for  a 
long  time,  and  to  a  great  extent,  before  they  can  grow 
up  into  that  permanent  general  use,  which  constitutes  an 
established  custom  of  pronunciation. 

The  si  vis  meflere,  etc,  of  Horace,  is  as  applicable  to 
teaching,  as  to  dramatic  enunciation ;  and  no  lecturer 
will  ever  be  able  to  render  his  labours  either  interesting 
or  instructive  to  his  pupils,  if  his  manner  be  dull,  cold, 
and  formal ;  and  his  elocution  monotonous,  drawling, 
nasal,  and  vapid.  The  ingenuous  ardour,  or  as  the  an- 
cients call  it,  the  sacred  fire  of  youth,  can  only  be  kept 
alive,  and  fanned  into  a  brighter  flame,  by  the  kindred 
enthusiasm  of  the  teacher,  whose  example  as  well  as 
precept,  is  necessary  to  inspire  the  student  with  a  love 
ibr  letters.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  head  is  genius,  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  heart  is  virtue ;  and  both  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  all  real  greatness.  The  paramount  ex- 
cellence of  every  instructer,  consists  in  the  ability,  so 
happily  to  temper  and  combine  the  three  several  influ- 
ences of  duty,  necessity,  and  ambition,  as  to  make  them 
all  co-operate,  in  their  respective  stations  and  powers,  to 
produce  in  his  pupils  confirmed  habits  of  intellectual  di- 
ligence. This  once  accomplished,  his  work  is  effectu- 
ally done,  for  they  will  ever  after,  continue  to  enlarge 
the  limits  of  their  understanding,  by  vigilant  observa- 
tion, by  systematic  reading,  by  patient  reflection,  by  ra- 
tional conversation ;  so  that  all  which  they  see,  observe, 


34Q  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

read,  and  hear,  shall  directly  tend  to  sharpen  the  sen§e 
of  perception,  strengthen  the  power  of  association,  quick- 
en and  render  more  retentive  the  memory,  exercise  and 
invigorate  the  judgment,  deepen  and  enlarge  the  faculty 
of  reasoning,  and  kindle  all  the  fires  of  the  imagination 
into  a  brighter  and  steadier  blaze. 

The  course  of  lectures  on  belles  lettres  and  rhetoric, 
should  contain  an  inquiry  into  the  elements  of  criticism 
on  metaphysical  principles,  by  which  Aristotle's  Poetics, 
the  fragment  ol  Longinus  on  the  sublime,  and  Quinc- 
tilian's  institutes,  should  be  examined  and  tried.  A  cri- 
tical code  of  general  rules  should  be  established,  and 
illustrated  by  selections  of  passages,  remarkable  for  their 
sentiment,  or  expression,  or  both,  from  the  best  poets 
and  prose  writers,  in  the  Greek,  Latin,  English,  French, 
Italian,  and  Spanish  languages. 

The  course  of  lectures  on  moral  philosophy,  should 
demonstrate,  that  all  the  systems  of  ethics,  whether  an- 
cient or  modern,  which  are  not  based  on  revelation,  are 
reducible  to  a  calculation  of  individual  expediency,  for 
want  of  a  sufficient  sanction  to  enforce  the  observance 
of  their  rules  and  precepts;  whereas  the  moral  code 
revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  is  applicable  to  all  the  condi- 
tions and  circumstances  of  human  life,  individual,  do- 
mestic, and  social.  This  should  constitute  the  first  great 
division  of  the  subject;  the  second  should  consist  of  an 
outline  of  political  philosophy,  and  the  attention  be  par- 
ticularly directed  towards  an  investigation  of  the  means 
best  adapted  to  render  a  nation  permanently  prosperous 
and  powerful.  The  third  division  should  comprehend 
an  inquiry  into  the  law  of  nations,  as  founded  on  the  law 
of  nature,  on  conventional,  or  treaty  law,  and  on  com- 
mon, or  customary  law.  It  would  require  the  labour  of 
several  years,  employed  in  general  reading,  and  patient 
thought,  to  improve  and  complete  two  such  courses  of 
lectures ;  which  would  find  very  imperfect  substitutes, 
in  the  daily  or  weekly  dole  of  a  few  pages  of  Blair, 
Beattie,  and  Vattel. 

The  few  following  might  be  some  of  the  subjects 
which  would  admit  of  profitable  discussion;  namely, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


341 


;«>*/,  that  the  moral  impulses  and  intellectual  capacities  of 
every  human  being,  are  by  nature  co-equal,  and  co-ordi- 
nate ;  that  is  to  say,  the  sensibilities  of  the  heart,  and 
powers  of  the  head,  in  every  being,  are  naturally  equal 
in  strength;  a  dull  man  having  by  the  very  constitution 
of  his  nature,  slow  and  blunt  feelings ;  and  genius  being 
by  nature,  endowed  with  quick  and  ardent  sensibilities ; 
and  so,  proportinally,  through  all  the  gradations  of  in- 
tellect, from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  order  of  minds. 
In  after  life,  the  moral  and  mental  co-equality  is  seldom 
preserved,  owing  to  some  persons  cultivating  their  feel- 
ings more  than  tneir  understandings;  while  others  im- 
prove their  minds  to  the  neglect,  or  at  the  expense  of 
their  moral  impulses  and  emotions ;  and,  consequently, 
as  all  the  human  powers,  whether  physical,  or  intellec- 
tual, or  moral,  grow  in  strength,  or  decay  in  weakness, 
as  they  are  exercised  or  disused ;  the  natural  coequality 
of  feeling  and  mind  is  deranged  by  the  subsequent  cul- 
tivation of  the  one,  in  an  undue  and  disproportionate 
preference  to  the  other. 

Secondly.  That  the  possession  and  display  of  great  in- 
tellect does  not  necessarily  imply  the  exercise  or  pos- 
session of  moral  virtue.  For,  if  it  did,  individuals  and 
nations  would  be  just  and  upright,  precisely  in  propor- 
tion to  the  quantity  of  their  talent  and  information ;  and 
communities  and  persons  would  be  vitious  and  profligate 
in  the  direct  ratio  of  their  dulness  and  ignorance ;  propo- 
sitions which  are  contradicted  by  the  uniform  experi- 
ence of  fact  and  history. 

Thirdly.  An  inquiry  should  be  made  into  the  compa- 
rative mind  of  the  ancients  and  moderns.  This  question 
has  been  agitated  by  the  learned  in  Europe,  ever  since 
the  revival  of  letters.  One  sect  of  scholars  has  contend- 
ed that  the  ancients  excel  the  moderns  in  all  the  attri- 
butes of  genius,  while  another  maintains  the  superiority 
of  the  moderns.  In  the  last  century  a  third  heresy 
sprung  up  amidst  the  European  philosophers  and  scho- 
lars, who,  at  that  time,  as  they  supposed,  discovered 
the  secret  of  man's  perfectibility  ;  whicn  doctrine,  if  true, 
decides  the  question ;  for  if  the  human  race  be  growing 


342  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

wiser  and  wiser,  every  succeeding  generation,  in  its  pro- 
gress towards  perfection,  of  course  the  ancients  were 
mere  children,  as  to  talents  and  acquisitions,  in  compa- 
rison with  modern  wise  men ;  and  the  politicians,  war- 
riors, poets,  historians,  orators,  and  philosophers  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  are,  by  several  centuries,  inferior  to 
the  corresponding  classes  of  men  who  protect,  adorn, 
and  guide  the  present  era  of  illumination.  By  pushing 
the  two  first  theories  to  their  legitimate  extremes,  their 
inconclusiveness  will  appear:  for,  on  the  supposition 
that  the  ancients  were  superior  in  capacity  to  the  mo- 
derns, the  world  has  only  to  grow  to  a  certain  age, 
when  all  the  human  beings  in  it  will  be  mere  drills  and 

o 

changelings,  if  mind  diminishes  every  succeeding  gene- 
ration ;  and  on  the  supposition  that  the  modems  excel 
the  ancients  in  talent,  the  converse  result  will  be  pro- 
duced, and  the  nearer  we  travel  up  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  creation,  the  more  certainly  we  approximate 
to  a  race  of  idiots  and  dunces. 

It  should  therefore  be  shown,  both  by  reasoning,  a 
priori,  from  certain  undisputed  elementary  principles  of 
metaphysics,  and  also  by  a  general  induction  from  par- 
ticular facts,  that  neither  of  these  three  opinions  is  cor- 
rect; but,  that  although  individuals  differ  from  each 
other  in  amount  of  native  talent,  yet  large  masses  of 
men,  as  whole  communities,  average  an  equality  of  na- 
tural capacity,  in  all  ages  and  countries.  How  far  that 
natural  capacity  shall  be  developed  into  active  power 
and  display,  must,  of  course,  depend  upon  the  existing 
circumstances  of  the  age  and  country  in  which  it  ap- 
pears ;  as  the  form  and  spirit  of  government,  systems  of 
education,  character  of  the  people,  and  all  those  predo- 
minating influences  which  stamp  the  family  features  and 
direct  the  destinies  of  nations.  In  examining  this  ques- 
tion, an  inquiry  should  be  made  into  the  best  means  of 
securing  for  the  public  service  a  succession,  regularly 
continued  from  age  to  age,  of  able  men,  in  all  the  high 
departments  of  the  State,  political,  military,  and  literary. 
And,  in  particular,  should  be  explored  the  causes  which 
accelerate  or  retard  the  growth  of  mind  in  these  Uni- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES 


343 


ted  States,  so  far  as  it  is  employed  in  the  pursuit  of  poli- 
tics, literature,  art,  and  science. 

Fourthly.  An  analysis  of  the  political  history  of  the 
world  should  be  made,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  how  far 
any  nation,  ancient  or  modern,  has  approximated  in  its 
social  institutions  towards  the  union  of  the  three  great 
requisites  of  a  good  government;  namely,  the  personal 
liberty  of  the  people,  strong  and  permanent  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  executive,  and  an  ample  developement 
of  the  national  mind,  by  a  system  of  comprehensive, 
liberal  education. 

Fifthly.  An  inquiry  should  be  made  into  the  elemen- 
tary principles  and  practical  exhibition  of  eloquence, 
both  oral  and  written ;  in  the  course  of  which  the  best 
writers  of  Greece,  Rome,  Italy,  France,  and  England, 
should  be  analyzed,  and  their  happiest  effusions  pointed 
out,  as  illustrations  of  the  general  rules  laid  down. 
These  few  subjects,  with  some  others  which  might  be 
named,  if  properly  discussed  and  exemplified,  would 
very  materially  tend  to  lay  the  foundation  of  intellectual 
excellence,  broad  and  deep,  in  the  student's  mind. 

In  our  colleges,  the  mathematics  are  generally  well 
taught ;  but  not  so,  either  the  classics,  or  metaphysics, 
or  belles  lettres  and  rhetoric,  or  moral  philosophy,  in- 
cluding the  three  branches  of  ethics,  political  economy, 
and  national  law. 

The  study  of  metaphysics  is  eminently  useful  in  sharp- 
ening, brightening,  and  strengthening  the  faculties  of 
the  mind,  by  accustoming  it  to  the  process  of  analysis, 
the  exercise  of  abstraction,  recollection,  arrangement, 
careful  inquiry  into  the  springs  and  sources  of  human 
passions,  character,  and  conduct.  And,  in  addition  ta 
opening  the  best  roads  for  the  judicious  direetkm  and 
management  of  the  understanding,  the  science  of  mind 
is  kindred  to,  and  prepares  the  way  for  the  investiga- 
tion of  other  important  sciences.  The  only  certain 
foundation  of  philology  and  criticism,  rests  upon  a 
knowledge  of  metaphysics,  which  enable  us  to  examine 
and  classify  the  ideas  that  words  represent,  to  give 
precision  arid  force  to  language,  and  to  ascertain  the 


344  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

sources  of  the  emotions  raised  within  our  bosoms,  by 
the  contemplation  of  sublime  or  beautiful  objects, 
whether  belonging  to  the  material  world,  or  the  off- 
spring of  moral  magnificence  and  loveliness.  Moral 
philosophy  owes  its  existence  to  metaphysical  investiga- 
tion, which  explores  and  analyzes  those  feelings,  affec- 
tions, passions,  and  sentiments  of  the  heart,  which  it  is 
the  business  of  morals  to  regulate  and  guide.  No  moral 

fj  O 

writer  can  clear  even  the  threshold  of  his  science,  with- 
out the  aid  of  metaphysics.  Even  political  economy 
derives  light  and  direction  in  its  pursuits,  and  endea- 
vours to  promote  the  well-being  of  states  from  the  in- 
sight which  metaphysics  afford  into  the  nature  of  indi- 
vidual man,  seeing  that  the  multiplication  of  these  indi- 
duals  constitutes  the  living  materials  of  that  state  which 
the  political  economist  labours  to  adorn  and  aggran- 
dize. 

Neither  the  mathematics  nor  the  physical  sciences  are 
well  adapted  to  develope  the  faculties  of  youth.  In 
early  life  the  study  of  mathematics  exercises  only  the 
mechanism  of  the  understanding ;  and  children  who  are 
early  doomed  to  the  drudgery  of  casting  calculations, 
and  eternally  working  in  figures  and  algebraic  signs, 
bury  in  everlasting  forgetfulness  all  the  fine  and  fertile 
seeds  of  imagination,  which  in  that  vernal  season  of  ex- 
istence, under  a  more  liberal  culture,  would  spring  up 
into  a  lofty  stem,  wave  its  luxuriant  branches  in  the  air, 
display  the  rich  beauty  of  its  blossoms,  and  ripen  into 
an  abundance  of  fragrant  fruit.  Nor  are  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  fancy  and  the  prevention  of  all  taste  counter- 
balanced by  any  transcendent  accuracy  of  mind;  for 
arithmetic,  algebra,  and  mathematics  only  make  us 
acquainted,  in  many  different  forms,  with  a  few  simple 
propositions  always  the  same.  Demonstrated  truths  do 
not  show  us  the  way  to  those  that  are  probable  and 
contingent,  and  which  alone  can  direct  our  steps  in  the 
active  business  of  practical  life,  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
arts,  in  the  intercourse  of  society.  This,  doubtless, 
applies  only  to  the  common  labours  in  the  mathematical 
trenches ;  for  invention  in  this  science,  as  in  ever}7  other 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  345 

pursuit,  is  the  felicitous  result  of  excited  genius.  But 
of  the  thousands,  who  pore  over  the  beaten  track  of 
mathematics,  how  many  exhibit  either  sense  or  reason 
in  the  important  transactions  of  life  ?  To  those  who 
are  not  inventors,  this  study  affords  the  means  of  un- 
folding only  one  faculty,  that  of  reasoning  closely  and 
conclusively  upon  given  premises ;  ij;  confers  no  power 
of  taking  ground,  and  laying  down  premises  on  which  to 
build  up  a  system  of  prompt,  various,  inductive  reason- 
ing. A  dull  man  may  make  a  good  mathematician,  but 
by  no  possibility  a  good  classical  scholar. 

It  is  the  province  of  liberal  education  to  develope  and 
improve  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  to  cultivate 
and  improve  the  whole  moral  being ;  which  desirable 
purpose  is  best  accomplished  by  the  study  of  language, 
as  the  chief  object  of  instruction,  attended,  indeed,  and 
aided  by  the  cultivation  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  but 
itself  the  primary  pursuit.  The  study  of  language  is 
peculiarly  fitted  to  render  the  faculty  of  associating* 
similar  and  simple  ideas,  or  of  combining  various  and 
dissimilar  images  more  facile  and  rapid.  By  attributing 
definite  ideas  to  arbitrary  signs  and  conventional  sounds, 
and  by  forming  abstract  and  general,  when  particular 
and  definite  notions  cannot  be  obtained,  the  powers  of 
association  and  imagination,  like  all  the  other  faculties, 
must,  by  exercise  and  use,  be  greatly  strengthened. 
Add  to  which,  by  increasing  the  rapidity  and  strength 
of  the  associative  faculty,  the  study  of  language  im- 
proves the  capacity  of  reasoning,  increases  the  bril- 
liancy of  wit,  and  brightens  the  blaze  of  imagination ; 
whence  all  the  mental  powers  are  enabled  to  work  with 
greater  promptness  and  effect  upon  every  subject  of 
human  inquiry  submitted  to  their  cognizance  and  con- 
sideration. 

But,  above  all  the  dead  languages,  tjhe  Greek  and 
Latin  tongues  should  be  more  especially  studied,  as 
conducive  to  the  great  end  of  liberal  education;  not 
only  because  they  contain  some  of  the  highest  flights  of 
genius,  but  also  because  they  have  a  greater  accuracy, 
a  more  philosophical  precision  than  any  living,  floating, 

11 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

continually  shifting  language  can  possess.  By  paying 
particular  attention  to  the  study  of  these  two  inestima- 
ble languages,  from  the  first  dawning  of  academic  in- 
struction to  the  close  of  life,  the  mind  is  quickened, 
strengthened,  and  rendered  clear  and  luminous  in  all  its 
views.  It  is  from  the  long  experience  of  their  utility 
that  the  study  of  these  languages  has  been  made  the 
basis  of  all  the  establishments  of  liberal  education  which 
have  trained  up  so  many  profound  and  accomplished 
scholars  in  Europe. 

All  the  qualities  and  elements  united  in  language  are 
gradually  comprehended  by  the  student,  while  engaged 
in  translating  from  one  tongue  into  another.  All  his 
faculties  are  improved  by  the  process  of  mastering  the 
peculiar  idioms  of  two  different  languages  at  the  same 
time.  He  is  compelled,  by  the  very  nature  of  his  study, 
to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  several  ideas  pre- 
sented by  the  words  he  reads  in  regular  succession ;  to 
compare  and  combine  different  sorts  of  analogies  and 
probabilities  offered  to  his  consideration  in  the  opinions, 
sentiments,  and  propositions  that  he  peruses.  The 
number  of  faculties  which  this  study  awakens  at  the 
same  time,  ensures  it  the  pre-eminence  over  every  other 
species  of  instruction.  It  quickens  the  power  of  per- 
ception, by  accustoming  the  mind  to  discern  the  nicer 
peculiarities  of  idiomatic  language  in  different  tongues ; 
it  gives  speed  and  force  to  the  faculty  of  association,  by 
presenting  various  shades  of  difference  in  the  ideas  ex- 
pressed by  words,  similar  or  synonymous,  in  different 
languages ;  it  renders  the  memory  strong  and  retentive, 
by  exercising  it  constantly  in  the  recollection  of  new 
words  and  images;  it  deepens  and  strengthens  the 
judgment,  by  continually  soliciting  its  decisions  on  the 
more  exquisite  models  of  taste  and  beauty  in  composi- 
tion which  the  great  writers  of  antiquity  have  left ;  it 
invigorates  and  enlarges  the  capacity  of  reasoning,  by 
perpetually  requiring  a  train  of  argument  upon  the  va- 
rious questions  in  ethics  and  politics,  started  by  the 
ancients,  under  very  peculiar  aspects  of  the  human 
mind ;  it  brightens  and  renders  more  intensely  splendid 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  347 

the  imagination,  by  introducing  it  to  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  finest  specimens  of  poetry  and  elo- 
quence, precisely  at  that  period  in  the  history  of  man 
when  they  were  most  eagerly  and  successfully  cultivated. 

But  further,  the  appropriate  subject  of  tne  best  por- 
tion of  classical  learning,  the  study  of  the  poets,  historians, 
orators,  and  philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome,  is  the 
investigation  and  improvement  of  our  moral  nature :  the 
feelings,  passions,  plans  of  action,  hidden  springs,  and 
various  movements  of  our  being.  The  most  exalted 
wisdom,  the  most  sound,  practical  common  sense  of 
social  life,  in  its  highest  refinement,  is  drawn  from  the 
springs  of  Helicon  and  the  fountains  of  Parnassus,  from 
the  groves  of  Academus,  and  from  the  schools  of  the 
Portico  and  Lyceum.  All  narrow  and  single  systems 
of  education  are  bad;  but  if  any  one  branch  of  learning 
deserves  pre-eminence,  it  is  that  which  induces  an  ha- 
bitual contemplation  of  ourselves  and  of  our  common 
nature,  in  a  close  acquaintance  with  which  men  must 
always  feel  a  deeper  interest  and  possess  a  larger  stake, 
than  in  the  lines  and  diagrams  of  the  mathematician,  the 
retorts  and  alembics  of  the  chymist,  or  any  combination 
of  material  substances,  which  the  natural  philosopher 
may  explore.  It  is  far  better,  however,  that  the  study 
of  the  classics  should  be  accompanied  with  that  of  all 
the  sciences,  in  order  to  impart  a  course  of  full  and 
accomplished  education. 

It  might,  perhaps,  be  of  some  utility  to  sketch  a  very 
brief  outline  of  the  system  of  instruction  pursued  in  the 
schools  and  colleges  of  England,  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  might  know  how  far  classical  literature  is 
prized  in  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  learn,  themselves, 
to  set  a  higher  value  upon  it  than  they  have  hitherto 
done.  Let  us  instance  the  three  great  public  schools  of 
Eton,  Westminster,  and  Winchester,  as  leading  the  van  of 
English  liberal  education.  At  these  schools  a  boy  stays 
until  he  is  eighteen;  before  he  reaches  which  period  he  is 
expected  to  be  able  to  read,  ad  aperluram  libri,  Virgil, 
Horace,  Terence,  Cicero,  and  Livy;  Homer,  Demos- 
thenes, Longinus,  Aristophanes,  and  the  Greek  Trage- 


348 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES; 


dians,  to  compose,  readily,  and  abundantly,  and  con- 
stantly, in  English  verse  and  prose,  and  in  Latin  verse 
and  prose ;  and,  occasionally,  in  Greek  verse  and  prose  ; 
to  make  Latin  epigrams  extempore,  to  declaim  in  Latin, 
to  write  Latin  critiques  on  a  given  book  of  Homer,  or 
play  in  Aristophanes,  or  ^Eschylus,  or  Sophocles,  or  Eu- 
ripides; to  have  the  finest  passages  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  classics  always  afloat  in  the  memory,  and  ready 
for  apt  citation  and  allusion.  In  the  English  universities 
these  studies  are  prosecuted  on  a  wider  scale,  and  with 
the  additional  pursuits  of  mathematics,  natural  philoso- 
phy, history,  moral  philosophy,  logic,  belles  lettres, 
rhetoric,  and  municipal  law.  Cambridge  is  supposed  to 
be  peculiarly  partial  to  mathematical,  and  Oxford  to 
classical  studies;  but  at  both,  the  system  of  instruction 
is  ample  and  highly  liberal.  At  two  and  twenty  they 
graduate,  and  after  this,  (except  in  the  church,  whose 
order  of  deacon  is  taken  at  three  and  twenty?)  they  begin 
to  study  for  the  learned  professions  of  law  and  physic. 
This  is  the  general  course  in  England  and  Ireland, 
which  produce  the  most  finished  scholars  in  Europe. 
Trinity  College,  in  Dublin,  has  long  been  celebrated  for 
its  great  proficiency  in  all  classical  attainments.  The 
English  and  Irish,  generally,  continue  their  acquaintance 
with  the  classics  in  after-life. 

In  Scotland  the  boys  learn  no  Greek  at  school,  which 
they  leave  at  twelve,  when  they  enter  the  university,  and 
graduate  at  sixteen;  sq  that  classical  literature  is  not 
much  cultivated.  A  few  years  since,  indeed,  the  study 
of  prosody,  and  the  composition  of  Latin  verse  were  in- 
troduced into  the  high  school  of  Edinburgh.  But  the 
principal  studies  among  the  Scottish  are  moral  philoso- 
phy, political  economy,  public  law,  and  metaphysics. 

it  is  an  old  objection  of  Mr.  Locke,  but  bandied  about 
the  United  States  with  as  much  eager  triumph  as  if  it 
were  both  novel  and  wise,  "  that  it  is  foolish  to  require 
boys  to  compose  in  verse,  if  we  do  not  wish  to  make 
them  poets."  The  answer  is, — that  boys  are  required 
to  make  verses,  not  in  order  to  become  poets,  but  to  ob- 
tain a  mare  complete  acquaintance  with  and  dominion 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  34  § 

over  the  language,  in  which  they  compose.  Let  any 
one  make  the  experiment,  and  he  will  find  that  he  must 
pass  more  thought  through  his  brain,  and  a  greater 
abundance  and  selection  of  expression  in  composing 
twenty  lines  of  verse,  in  whatever  language,  than  in 
writing  four  times  the  same  quantity  of  prose.  Lord 
Mansfield  was  not  disqualified  for  being  one  of  the 
greatest  lawyers,  statesmen,  and  orators,  the  world  ever 
saw,  because  all  his  life,  even  after  he  was  eighty,  he  used 
to  write  Latin  verses,  in  the  various  rythms,  nearly 
ecjual  to  the  best  poetry  of  the  Augustan  age.  Nor  was 
Sir  William  Jones  a  less  profound  jurist  and  philosopher, 
because  he  was  an  accomplished  versifier  in  the  English, 
Latin,  and  Greek  languages. 

It  is  too  prevalent  a  fashion  in  the  United  States  to 
consider  all  classical,  nay,  all  general  education,  at  an  end, 
as  soon  as  a  boy  leaves  college,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
when  he  begins  to  prepare  himself  for  becoming  a  mer- 
chant, who  is  supposed  not  to  stand  in  need  of  any  lite- 
rature ;  or  a  clergyman,  or  physician,  or  lawyer,  who 
are  deemed  to  want  nothing  more  than  a  mere  know- 
ledge of  theology,  medicine,  or  law.  In  addition  to 
which,  it  is  thought  prodigious  wisdom  to  rail  at  all  stu- 
dious habits,  and  talk  loudly  about  trusting  to  the  ener- 
gies of  native  genius,  which  must  not  be  stifled  by  por- 
ing over  books."  The  consequence  is,  that  the  Latin 
of  our  college  boys  soon  becomes  threadbare,  and  their 
Greek  quite  worn  out. 

When  Demosthenes  was  reproached  by  a  fopling  of 
his  day,  that  his  orations  smelt  of  the  lamp,  he  replied, 
"  true,  there  is  some  difference  between  wnat  you  and  I 
do  by  lamp-light."  To  derive  all  from  native  genius,  to 
owe  nothing  to  others,  to  scorn  to  look  at  objects  through 
the  spectacles  of  books,  is  the  praise  whicn  many  men 
who  think  little,  and  talk  much,  delight  to  bestow  upon 
themselves  and  their  kindred  favourites.  But  no  one  in 
his  senses  would  wish  to  exclude  the  student  from  an 
acquaintance  with  the  works  of  others;  for  if  it  were 
possible,  and  men  were  forbidden  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  labours  of  their  predecessors,  each  succeeding  gene- 


350  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ration  would  be  obliged  to  begin  anew  their  researches 
into  the  first  rudiments  of  knowledge ;  and  mankind 
for  ever  remain  in  merely  an  infantile  state,  as  to  all  the 
purposes  of  improvement:  that  man  being,  as  Cicero 
observes,  only  a  child  in  understanding,  who  is  ignorant 
of  the  transactions  and  events,  the  opinions  and  disco- 
veries, of  those  who  have  gone  before  him.  The  truth 
is,  the  repeated  perusal  of  the  heroes  of  literature,  as 
Longinus  calls  them,  is  of  absolute  necessity  in  the  first 
years  of  study,  and  of  immense  importance  in  after  life. 
Nor  will  it  enfeeble  the  mind  and  prevent  its  exhibition 
of  originality.  Invention,  doubtless,  is  the  great  charac- 
teristic of  genius ;  but  men  learn  to  invent,  by  being 
conversant  with  the  inventions  of  others ;  as  they  learn 
to  think,  by  reading  the  thoughts  of  others. 

Whoever  has  so  far  formed  his  taste,  as  to  contem- 
plate with  delight,  and  feel  deeply  the  excellences  of 
great  writers,  has  already  studied  to  considerable  effect. 
Quinctilian  says,  that  to  take  real  pleasure  in  reading 
Cicero  is  one  of  the  most  unequivocal  marks  of  genius 
a  student  can  exhibit.  For,  merely  from  a  conscious- 
ness of  delighting  in  what  is  excellent,  the  mind  is  ele- 
vated, and  roused  to  an  effort  at  resembling  what  it 
admires.  The  inventions  of  preceding  writers  are  not 
only  the  best  nourishment  of  infant  genius;  but  also  the 
most  substantial  supply  of  energy  and  animation  to  ma- 
ture talents.  The  most  powerful  mind  is,  in  itself,  but 
a  barren  soil,  soon  exhausted,  if  left  to  repeat  often  the 
periodical  growth  of  its  own  native  vegetation;  a  soil 
which  will  produce  only  a  few  scanty  crops,  unless  con- 
tinually fertilized  with  the  abundant  addition  of  foreign 
manure. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  gravely  asserted  by  many,  an 
practically  enforced  by  the  example  of  more,  that  clas- 
sical literature  and  general  information  are  injurious  to 
professional  men ;  that  those  make  the  best  divines  who 
know  nothing  but  the  peculiarities  of  their  own  secta- 
rian theology ;  that  those  are  the  most  expert  physi- 
cians who  peruse  only  the  prevailing  systems  of  the 
nosology  of  the  day ;  that  those  are  the  soundest  law- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  35], 

yers  whose  whole  reading  is  confined  to  the  points, 
cases,  and  practice  of  law.  But  error  has  her  gray 
hairs  as  well  as  truth.  The  real  inference  is,  that  he 
who  professes  to  know  nothing  but  his  own  scheme  of 
divinity,  or  the  existing  system  of  medicine,  or  the  mere 
technicalities  of  law,  is  not  a  sound  theologian,  or  able 
physician,  or  profound  lawyer;  because  it  displays 
either  dulness  or  idleness,  or  both,  for  one  to  pass 
through  life  without  acquiring  general  information.  In- 
deed idleness,  long  continued,  produces  nearly  the  same 
effects  as  dulness,  by  blunting  the  powers  of  genius  it- 
self; since  man  holds  all  his  natural  faculties,  physical, 
intellectual,  and  moral,  only  upon  this  conditional  tenure, 
that  by  exercise  they  are  all  strengthened  and  enlarged ; 
by  disuse  all  weakened  and  diminished. 

Were  Luther,  and  Calvin,  and  Horseley,  less  pro- 
foundly skilled  in  their  own  peculiar  systems  of  theolo- 
gy than  the  most  ignorant  clergymen  of  their  respect- 
ive sects,  because  they  were  also  learned  in  all  the 
learning  of  their  times?     Were  Friend,  and  Boerhaave, 
and  Haller,  and  Heberden,  less   expert  in  the  healing 
art  than  the  most  ignorant,  impudent,  and  murderous 
empiric,  because  they  were  eminently  distinguished  as 
general  scholars,  in  addition  to  being  most  accomplished 
physicians  ?     Were   Bacon,  and  Hale,  and  Mansfield, 
and  Jones,  less  able,  and  less  profound,  as  jurists,  than 
the  most  illiterate,  narrow-minded,  pettifogging  attor- 
ney,  because  they  had  assiduously  strengthened   and 
adorned  the  stupendous  power  of  their  original  genius 
by  a  vast  and  varied  acquaintance  with  the  recondite 
depths  of  science,  the  exquisite  refinements  of  art,  and 
the  dazzling  splendours  of  erudition?     It  were  indeed  a 
consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished,  that  our  Ameri- 
can students,  following  the  foot-tracks  of  these  illustri- 
ous examples,  would  prefer  to  herding  in  the  dark  and 
dismal  abodes  of  the  antagonists  of  learning,  to  what- 
ever profession  they  may  belong,  the  directing  of  their 
devoted,  though  distant,  gaze  and  admiration  towards 
the  regions  of  the  sun.  where  shine  in  unborrowed  lus- 


352  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tre  the  great  poets,  historians,  orators,  statesmen,  and 
philosophers  of  the  world : 


In  every  profession  various  kinds  of  learning  are  emi- 
nently useful,  although  to  common,  slow  understandings, 
they  do  not  appear  to  bear  any  very  close  relation  to 
their  particular  calling;  and  various  general  information 
always  tends  to  quicken  the  power  of  penetration,  and 
strengthen  the  judgment.  A  mind,  liberally  cultivated, 
has  an  extensive  intellectual  grasp,  which  seizes  at 
once,  as  by  intuition,  every  argument  that  bears  fairly 
on  the  question;  and  thus  ensures  accuracy  and  stabili- 
ty to  all  its  serious  deliberations,  and  mature  conclusions. 
But  a  narrow  understanding  (and  all  ignorance  in  its 
very  nature,  and  ex  vi  termini,  implies  narrowness  of 
the  understanding,)  being  unacquainted  with  elementa- 
ry principles,  and  general  truths,  is  confused  and  per- 
plexed by  every  ordinary  occurrence,  and  is  busied  only 
in  managing  little  points,  and  raising  quibbling  objec- 
tions, that  cannot  stand  a  moment  against  the  direct  ar- 
tillery of  that  able,  well-applied,  comprehensive  reason- 
ing, which  is  ever  the  legitimate  result,  and  sure  rewardr 
of  time  diligently  employed  in  laying  the  broad  basis  of 
a  liberal  education. 

Ignorance  is  the  greatest  of  all  evils,  because  it  tends 
to  augment  and  perpetuate  every  other  evil,  by  pre- 
cluding the  possible  entrance  of  all  good.  Its  fatal  in- 
fluence, not  only  indisposes  the  mind  to  exertions  for  its 
own  deliverance,  but  also  excites  a  malignant  opposition 
to  every  effort  to  enlighten  mankind.  Men  love  this 
darkness  rather  than  light,  because  it  conceals  the  di- 
mensions of  danger,  favours  the  slumber  of  indolence, 
and  soothes  the  dreams  of  folly.  And  so  completely 
does  long-continued  ignorance  tend  to  disqualify  the  mind 
for  improvement,  that  it  is  only  in  the  earlier  stages  oi 
life,  that  it  is  capable  of  being  trained  by  the  patient 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


353 


process  of  education,  to  habits  of  intelligence.  It  is 
vain  to  endeavour  to  operate  any  great  moral  change, 
or  intellectual  improvement  on  the  full-grown  population 
of  any  community.  Their  characters  are  fixed  ;  their 
faculties  have  ceased  to  be  progressive ;  the  range  of 
their  ideas  has  already  taken  the  form  and  pressure,  the 
hue,  and  colouring,  and  direction,  of  their  previous  edu- 
cation ;  and  cannot  tolerate  any  innovation  upon  their 
long  cherished  prejudices,  and  circumscribed  customs. 
It  is  with  youth,  nay,  with  childhood,  the  labours  of  the 
preceptor  must  begin ;  for  to  them  in  a  great  measure, 
is  the  successful  prosecution  of  intellectual  and  moral 
culture  confined.  "He  (observes  Dr.  Johnson,)  who 
voluntarily  continues  in  ignorance,  when  he  may  be  in- 
structed, is  guilty  of  all  the  crimes  and  follies  which  ig- 
norance produces ;  as  to  him  who  extinguishes  the  night 
fires  of  a  beacon,  are  justlv  to  be  imputed  all  the  cala- 
mities of  the  shipwreck  occasioned  by  the  darkness." 
It  is  by  the  diffusion  of  general  information  alone,  that 
the  understanding  can  be  improved  in  all  its  faculties; 
that  the  thoughts  which  now  only  occasionally  appear 
to  the  secluded  speculations  of  a  few  solitary  thinkers, 
can  be  communicated  from  intellect  to  intellect,  concen- 
trated in  strength,  and  brightened  in  reflected  splendour; 
so  that  an  uninterrupted  chain  of  progressive  improve- 
ment may  unite  together  all  the  intelligent  minds  of  an 
enlightened  community. 

The  rythm  of  the  Latin  language  is  entirely  disre- 
garded ;  and  in  this  free  country,  we  murder  prosody  ad 
libitum.  Our  gravest  divines,  most  learned  physicians, 
profound  lawyers,  and  celebrated  professors,  talk  fami- 
liarly of  "  Jlristides"  of  "  Herodotus"  of  suing  "  in 
forma  pauperis"  of  the  writ  "facias  habSre  possessionem" 
and  so  forth.  The  excuse  for  this  systematic  rebellion 
against  all  metre,  was  for  a  long  time  found  in  the  fact 
that  our  Scottish  teachers  neglected  all  prosody;  this 
apology  must  cease  now,  because  some  years  since,  the 
proper  metrical  pronunciation  of  the  classics  was  intro- 
duced,, as  part  of  its  system  oi*  education,  into  the  high 
school  at  Edinburgh :  and  that  celebrated  seminary  now 

4.r> 


354  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

produces  prize  poems  in  Latin  Hexameters.  Mr,  Burke 
might  have  thundered  his  "  magnum  vcctigal  est  parsimo- 
nia"  into  the  ears  of  an  American  administration,  with- 
out offending  their  nicer  classical  organs,  or  hearing 
both  from  the  treasury  and  the  opposition  benches,  the 
portentous  sound  of  "tigal,  tigal"  echoing  through  all 
the  house,  until  his  premeditated  speech  was  prema- 
turely brought  to  a  close. 

it  would  be  considered  a  sure  token  of  a  low  and 
vulgar  education,  if  an  American  were  to  mis-pronounce 
every  English  word  he  uttered,  and  make  all  the  long 
syllables  short,  and  all  the  short  syllables  long;  and  it 
is  not  less  offensive  to  hear  the  Latin  and  Greek  langua- 
ges treated  in  the  same  barbarous  manner;  to  observe 
the  quantity  of  every  word  in  Homer  and  Virgil,  in 
Demosthenes  and  Cicero,  regularly  assassinated  by  men 
•who  call  themselves  scholars.  To  confess  the  truth 
however,  our  free-born  citizens  are  apt  to  take  as  much 
liberty  with  the  rythm  of  their  mother  tongue,  as  with 
that  of  the  dead  languages ;  and  we  daily  hear,  from 
the  pulpit,  in  the  Senate,  and  at  the  bar,  of  "peremp- 
tory" "territory"  "dormitory"  "legislature"  "genii?- 
ine"  "  sanguine"  &c.*  The  late  Mr.  Gouverneur  Mor- 
ris, one  of  the  ablest  and  most  eloquent  men  whom  the 
world  has  produced,  in  an  inaugural  discourse  to  the 
P»Jew  York  Historical  Society,  condescended  to  use 
some  splendid  sophistry,  in  order  to  prove  that  poetry 
and  rythm  are  unworthy  the  attention  of  America, 
because  steamboats  are  useful  to  the  community. 
The  language  of  the  orator  is  lofty,  but  we  might  ask 
whether  or  not  his  judgment  would  have  been  as  sound, 
and  his  imagination  as  well  disciplined,  if  he  himself  had 
been  a  classical  scholar ;  and  whether  or  not  England 

*  Note,  that  this  page,  instancing  the  neglect  of  prosody,  was 
handed  to  me  without  a  single  mark  to  denote  the  quantity  of  the  syl- 
lables which  our  American  scholars  so  regularly  mis-pronounce. 
Upon  inquiring  the  cause,  I  was  informed,  that  they  had  -no  such 
marks,  and  the  press  was  stopped  till  the  type-founder  could  cast 
them.  And  this  printing-office  h  one  of  the  first  and  most  respectable 
in  the  United  States. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  355 

js  inferior  to  other  nations  in  the  inventions  of  art,  and 
the  discoveries  of  science,  because  she  excels  them  all 
in  literature? 

The  United  States  have  produced  scarcely  a  single 
learned  writer,  in  the  strict  acceptation  of  that  term  ;  in- 
deed I  do  not  know  one  American  work  on  classical 
literature,  or  that  betrays  any  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  classics.  And,  excepting  Cicero's  works,  printed 
accurately  and  well  by  Wells  and  Lilley,  at  Boston,  the 
only  classical  productions  of  the  American  press  are  the 
republication  of  a  few  common  schoolbooks.  Nor,  I 
believe,  have  the  United  States  produced  any  elementary 
work  on  ethics,  or  political  economy,  or  metaphysics. 
The  great  mass  of  our  native  publications  consists  of 
newspaper  essays,  and  party  pamphlets.  There  are 
several  respectable  State  and  local  histories,  as  those 
of  New-York  and  New-Jersey,  by  Smith,  Trumbull's 
History  of  Connecticut,  Ramsay's  History  of  South- 
Carolina,  to  which  add  his  Account  of  the  United 
States,  and  Holmes's  Annals,  M'Call's  Georgia,  Dar- 
by's Louisiana,  and  Stoddart's  Account  of  that  State, 
Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia,  Borman's  Maryland, 
Prud's  Pennsylvania,  Williams's  Vermont,  Belknap's 
New-Hampshire,  Hutchinson's  Massachusetts,  Sulli- 
van's Maine,  Minot's  History  of  Shay's  Rebellion,  and 
Drake's  History  of  Cincinnati,  in  Ohio  ;  together  with 
divers  accounts  of  the  late  war,  mostly  written  in  that 
crusading  style  which  revolutionary  France  has  render- 
ed current  throughout  the  world. 

Of  native  novels  we  have  no  great  stock,  and  none 
good  ;  our  democratic  institutions  placing  all  the  people 
on  a  dead  level  of  political  equality ;  and  the  pretty 
equal  diffusion  of  property  throughout  the  country  af- 
fords but  little  room  for  varieties,  and  contrasts  of  cha- 
racter ;  nor  is  there  much  scope  for  fiction,  as  the  coun- 
try is  quite  new,  and  all  that  has  happened  from  its 
first  settlement  to  the  present  hour,  respecting  it,  is 
known  to  every  one.  There  is,  to  be  sure,  some  tra- 
ditionary romance  about  the  Indians ;  but  a  novel  de- 
scribing these  miserable  barbarians,  their  squaws,  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

papooses,  would  not  be  very  interesting  to  the  present 
race  of  American  readers. 

Our  poetry  is  neither  abundant  nor  excellent;  the 
state  of  society  is  not  favourable  to  its  production  ;  there 
is  not  much  individual  wealth  to  afford  patronage,  nor 
any  collegiate  endowments  bestowing  learned  leisure  ; 
the  trading  spirit  pervades  the  whole  community,  and 
the  merchant's  leger  and  the  muses  do  not  make  very 
suitable  companions.  The  aspect  of  nature,  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  presents  magnificence  and  beauty  in  all  pro- 
fusion ;  but  hill  and  dale,  and  wood  and  stream,  are 
not  alone  sufficient  to  breathe  the  inspirations  of  poetry, 
unless  seconded  by  the  habits  and  manners,  the  feeling, 
taste,  and  character  of  the  inhabitants.  Besides,  the 
best  English  poets  are  as  much  read  here  as  in  Britain ; 
and  Milton,  Cowper,  Burns,  Scott,  Southey,  Byron, 
Campbell,  and  Moore,  are  formidable  rivals  to  our 
American  bards,  who  must  either  follow  some  other 
more  substantial  vocation  than  poesy,  or  soon  mingle, 
as  spirits,  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  ethereal  world ;  for 
beyond  all  peradventure,  the  most  exalted  genius,  aided 
by  the  most  extensive  learning,  if  dependent  on  literary 
pursuits  alone  for  subsistence,  would  be  permitted  to 
starve  by  our  good  republican  Maecaenates.  The  late 
president  Dwight,  when  quite  a  young  man,  wrote  two 
respectable  poems,  called  "  The  Conquest  of  Canaan," 
and  "Greenfield  Hill."  Mr.  Barlow's  "Columbiad," 
though  full  of  hard  words,  and  loud-sounding  lines,  has 
many  magnificent  descriptions  of  natural  scenery,  and 
some  most  fantastic  visions  of  crude  philosophy,  and 
and  still  cruder  politics.  Mr.  Sargeant,  of  Boston,  has 
written  some  very  spirited  national  lyrics;  and  Mr. 
Pierpoint's  "  Airs  of  Palestine"  are  an  elegant  and  po- 
pular performance.  *'  The  Bridal  of  Vaumond"  is  in  a 
much  higher  strain ;  and  the  writer,  though  evidently 
young  and  unexperienced,  has  swept  the  chords  of  his 
lyre  with  a  master's  hand,  and  gives  token  of  an  energy 
of  intellect,  reach  of  thought,  and  variety  of  information, 
which,  if  well  directed,  and  steadily  impelled,  cannot 
flail  to  conduct  him  eventually  to  the  heights  of  our  com- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


357 


munity.  Possibly  this  little  poem  may  not  be  a  favour- 
ite with  those  profounder  critics  who  read  by  the  finger 
rather  than  the  ear,  on  account  of  its  various  rythm  ; 
but  those  to  whom  the  happier  effusions  of  genius,  taste, 
and  feeling  are  dear,  cannot  fail  to  appreciate  its  high 
excellence.  Woodworks  poems,  lately  published  in  this 
city,  are  manifestly  the  production  of  an  uneducated 
mind  ;  but  they  evince  a  vigour  of  talent,  a  depth  of 
feeling,  and,  in  many  instances,  a  purity  of  taste,  that 
ought  to  carry  their  possessor  up  from  the  drudgery  of 
a  mere  mechanical  employment  into  a  purer  and  a  more 
congenial  atmosphere.  The  too  scanty  biographical 
sketch  of  the  author,  prefixed  to  these  poems,  contains 
an  interesting  account  of  the  struggles  of  unassisted  ge- 
nius with  early  penury,  and  a  protracted  period  of  un- 
propitious  circumstances.  A  hint  is  thrown  out  in  this 
sketch  of  the  publication  of  a  second  volume  of  Mr. 
Wood  worth's  poems  ;  if  this  be  done,  it  is  adviseable  for 
the  author  to  bestow  some  additional  care  upon  the 
rythm,  the  rhymes,  and  the  general  structure  and  finish- 
ing of  his  verses. 

The  greatest  national  work  which  the  United  States 
have  produced,  is  Chief  Justice  Marshall's  "  Life  of 
Washington."  The  character  of  Mr.  Marshal,  for  great 
talents  and  sound  information,  has  been  long  thoroughly 
established.  When  young,  his  reputation  as  an  advo- 
cate was  great.  Some  years  since,  in  1797-8,  he  dis- 
played his  dexterity,  judgment,  and  decision,  as  a  diplo- 
matist, in  his  well-known  negotiation  with  M.  Talley- 
rand; and  now,  as  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States, 
he  maintains,  with  masterly  ability,  firmness,  and  dig- 
nity, the  best  interests  of  liberty  and  law  ;  which,  in- 
deed, are  always  inseparable.  The  work,  however, 
bears  evident  marks  of  haste  and  negligence,  which, 
indeed,  is  confessed  by  the  author;  but 


&  judge  should  never  be  too  indolent.     Nevertheless,  the 
book  is  written  in  a  clear,  manly,  and  vigorous  style, 


358  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES'. 

and  contains  an  admirable  outline  of  the  history  of  the 
British  North  American  colonies  from  their  first  settle- 
ment to  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolutionary  war. 
Full  justice  is  done  to  the  exalted  character  of  Washing- 
ton, and  to  his  illustrious  compatriots ;  an  ample  and 
instructive  account  is  given  of  the  origin  and  progress 
of  political  parties  in  the  United  States ;  and  tne  notes 
contain  disquisitions,  replete  with  profound  reasoning 
and  philosophical  analysis. 

Of  periodical  works  we  have  some  few  that  exhibit 
considerable  talent,  and  contain  much  valuable  informa- 
tion. The  Port  Folio  is  conducted  by  its  present  Edi- 
tor, Mr.  John  E.  Hall,  with  great  a'bility,  taste,  and 
judgment,  and  displays  many  admirable  specimens  of 
elegant  and  finished  composition,  and  of  sound,  manly 
criticism.  This  journal  was  originally  established  by 
the  late  Mr.  Dennie,  who  is  called  the  American  Ad- 
dison,  nearly  twenty  years  since,  and  is  the  only  pe- 
riodical work  in  the  United  States  to  which  so  long  a 
life  has  been  accorded.  Mr.  Dennie  was  the  first  gen- 
tleman in  this  country  who  devoted  himself,  exclusively ', 
to  the  pursuit  of  letters,  which  he  cultivated  to  the  last 
hour  of  his  earthly  pilgrimage ;  and  received,  from  his 
benevolent  fellow-citizens,  as  a  recompense  for  his  feli- 
citous effusions  of  genius,  taste,  feeling,  tenderness, 
eloquence,  wit,  and  humour — permission  to  starve. 

For  general  ability,  and  various  information,  the 
"  North  American  Review"  edited  at  Boston,  is,  proba- 
bly, the  most  conspicuous  of  all  the  periodical  publica- 
tions in  the  United  States. 

In  the  Jinalectic  Magazine  there  are  able  original 
essays,  well  written  biography,  and  some  judicious  cri- 
ticism. The  Portico  displays  a  vigour  of  thought,  a 
boldness  of  originality,  and  a  manly  eloquence,  that 
deserve  much  more  than  the  languishing  support,  ba- 
lancing between  life  and  death,  which  it  receives  from 
the  opulent  citizens  of  Baltimore.  The  American  Ma- 
gazine and  Review,  recently  floated  in  New-York,  con- 
tains much  valuable  information  respecting  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  various  learned  societies  in  the  United 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATED. 


359 


States  ;  but  its  critical  department  stands  altogether  on 
a  false  foundation,   namely,  that  criticism   consists  in 
finding  fault.     "  He  is  a  very  great  critic,"  says  Sheri- 
dan, sarcastically,  "  for  nothing  pleases  him."     It  re- 
quires, however,  much  more  talent  and  learning,  as  well 
as  more  good  temper,  to  praise  judiciously,  than  to  blame 
indiscriminately.     The  Neologist  is  a  periodical  paper, 
of  which  nearly  one  hundred  numbers  have  appeared 
in  the  New-York  Daily  Advertiser,  which  still  continues 
to  publish  its  lucubrations  twice  a  week.     It  is,  evident- 
ly, the  production  of  young  persons,   who  have,  as  yet, 
but  little  experience  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  or  the 
social  habits  of  our  great  cities  ;  but,  beyond  all  doubt, 
the  United  States   have  no/,  hitherto,  produced  essays 
equal  to  those  of  the  Neogolist,  in  real  genius,  learned 
criticism,  ethical  disquisition,  fine  taste,  sound  thought, 
chaste  composition,  various  erudition,  and  touching  elo- 
quence.    And    we   trust,    as    it   is    widely    circulated, 
through  the  medium  of  the  newspapers,  in  New-York 
and  Boston,  that  it  will  serve  to  correct  and   restrain 
the  pruriency  of  our  little  master-misses  and  literary 
fopplings  to  prattle  incontinently  upon  the  merits  of  a 
minute  ballad,  or  small  song,  or  new  pas  seul;  and  teach 
them,  either  to  be  silent,  or  learn  to  direct  their  atten- 
tion to  some  more  profitable  employment :  perhaps  the 
Neologist  may  teach  them  the  meaning  of  the  proverb, 
"  ne  sutor  ultra  crepidam" 

.  Mr.  Trumbull's  M'Fingal,  written  to  ridicule  the  to- 
ries  during  the  revolution,  exhibits  much  of  the  wit,  and 
some  of  the  learning,  of  Butler's  Hudibras.  Mr.  Wash- 
ington Irv  ing's  Salmagundi  and  History  of  Knickerbocker, 
need  not  shrink  from  competition  with  any  European 
performance,  in  the  felicitous  combination  of  good  hu- 
moured wit,  delicate  irony,  dexterous  delineation  of  cha- 
racter, skilful  exposition  of  the  fashionable  follies  preva- 
lent in  the  United  States,  with  the  occasional  relief  of 
exquisitely  finished  composition,  full  of  tenderness,  me- 
lancholy, pathos,  and  eloquence.  Mr.  Irving's  Sketch  of 
the  Life  of  Campbell,  the  Scottish  poet,  is  an  admirable 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

union  of  sound  philosophy,  delicate  taste,  judicious  cri- 
ticism, fine  feeling,  and  elegant  writing. 

Mr.  Wirt  has  long  been  known  as  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  speakers  and  writers  in  the  union;  as  an  advo- 
cate he  is  considered  the  first  at  the  Virginia  bar,  a  bar 
fertile  in  powerful  and  animated  oratory.  His  Old 
Bachelor,  a  collection  of  essays  on  various  subjects,  first 
stamped  his  excellence  as  a  writer,  and  is  become  de- 
servedly popular  all  over  the  country ;  its  chief  objects 
are  to  vindicate  the  American  character  and  intellect 
from  European  aspersions,  to  rouse  the  martial  spirit  of 
his  countrymen,  and  excite  a  love  of  letters  in  the  United 
States,  His  British  Spy  exhibits  the  finer  characteris- 
tics of  American  eloquence,  alike  in  the  author's  own 
composition,  and  in  his  delineations  of  some  of  our  first- 
rate  oratory.  His  Sketches  of  the  life  of  Patrick  Henry, 
gives  a  niost  interesting,  instructive,  and  eloquent  ac- 
count of  Henry,  who  is  considered  as  one  of  the  greatest 
orators  and  profoundest  statesmen,  that  Virginia  has 
produced.  And  also,  it  exhibits  the  origin  and  progress 
of  the  chief  actors,  who  brought  about  the  independence 
of  the  United  States. 

It  is  quite  enough  to  say  of  the  late  Fisher  Ames, 
that  he  is  denominated  by  his  fellow-citizens  the  Burke 
of  America. 

Mr.  Colden's  Life  of  Fulton  is  a  very  instructive  and 
valuable  work.  It  is,  however,  manifestly  the  produc- 
tion of  one  more  accustomed  to  public  speaking  than  to 
closet-composition ;  and  it  is  well  known,  that  some  of 
the  most  eloquent  speakers  in  the  senate,  and  at  the  bar, 
both  in  Britain  and  in  the  United  States,  for  want  of 
practice,  do  not  write  with  so  much  precision,  fluency, 
and  force,  as  their  undoubted  talents  and  information 
would  naturally  lead  us  to  expect.  Rousseau  used  to 
say,  "  that  with  whatever  faculties  a  man  might  be  born, 
that  of  writing  well  was  not  one ;  for  that  can  only  be 
attained  by  long  and  constant  exercise,  and  habitual 
imitation  of  the  best  models."  And  when  Dr.  Johnson 
was  once  shown  a  book,  written  by  an  eminent  British 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


361 


statesman,  he  said,  "  this  book,  Sir,  is  written  with 
great  ability,  it  displays  vast  reach  of  thought  and  vari- 
ety of  erudition,  and  the  style,  considering  the  gentleman 
has  not  been  used  to  write,  is  excellent." 

It  is  not,  of  course,  intended  to  notice  all  the  writers 
who  have,  by  their  talents  and  information,  shed  a  lus- 
tre on  the  United  States ;  but  merely  to  mark  out  a  few 
examples  of  different  species  of  literary  excellence.  It 
woula,  however,  be  quite  unpardonable  to  omit  the 
name  of  Mr.  Walsh,  who  is,  confessedly,  the  first  man 
of  letters  we  have  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  His  in- 
formation on  general  literature,  politics,  and  history,  is 
copious  and  accurate.  His  style  of  writing  is  elaborate, 
vigorous,  splendid,  and  eloquent ;  with,  perhaps,  rather 
too  frequent  a  use  of  the  sesquipedalia  verba,  and  of 
French  words  and  phrases,  which  weaken  the  strength, 
and  mar  the  uniformity  of  the  composition.  The  Eng- 
lish language  is  sufficiently  comprehensive  and  ener- 
getic, to  give  adequate  expression  to  any  sentiment,  how- 
ever sublime,  or  tender,  or  indignant,  or  pathetic ;  the 
whole  compass  of  the  human  heart  and  head  may  be 
struck  upon  its  chords,  and  every  tone  made  to  dis- 
course most  excellent  music.  Dr.  Johnson,  in  animad- 
verting upon  the  gallicisms  of  Mr.  Hume,  said,  "  that  if 
they  were  suffered  to  gain  ground,  England  would  soon 
be  reduced  to  babble  a  dialect  of  France."  What  is 
now  said,  is  by  no  means  said  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
pressing or  detracting  from  the  great  merits  of  Mr. 
Walsh,  from  whose  writings,  (to  use  a  strong  expression 
of  Lord  Bacon,)  "  he  who  does  not  receive  instruction 
and  delight,  must  be  more  than  man,  or  less  than  beast." 
And,  might  I  be  permitted  to  add,  that  splendid  and 
vigorous  as  are  the  writings  of  Mr.  Walsh,  his  conversa- 
tion is  still  more  rich,  instructive,  and  interesting? 

The  United  States  ought  to  cherish  the  efforts  of  a 
man  so  gifted  and  so  adorned,  who  devotes  to  the  pro- 
secution of  letters,  talents  and  learning  that,  otherwise 
directed,  would  command  any  height  of  exaltation  and 
influence,  which  our  community  can  give.  Mr.  Walsh's 
Letter  on  the  character  and  genius  of  the  French  govern- 

46 


362  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ment,  is  a  peculiarly  splendid  production,  and  contains 
some  very  valuable  information,  altogether  new,  when 
promulgated,  on  the  finances  and  internal  administra- 
tion of  the  Imperial  revolutionary  government.  It 
was  profusely  praised  by  both  the  Edinburgh  and  Quar- 
terly Reviews,  and  cited  with  great  applause  by  Lord 
Chief  Justice  Ellenborough,  from  his  seat  in  the  King's 
Bench.  Mr.  Walsh's  American  Review,  in  four  octavo 
volumes,  contain  much  very  interesting  information  on 
the  state  of  society  and  manners,  in  France  and  Eng- 
land, which  ought  to  be  published  in  a  separate  form. 
as  a  most  acceptable  boon  to  every  reader.  This  Re- 
view also  exhibits  some  sound  criticism  on  American 
productions,  and  considerable  information  on  foreign 
literature,  particularly  the  French,  German,  and  Italian  ; 
and,  above  all,  a  lofty  and  sustained  effort  to  raise  the 
tone  of  literature  in  the  United  States,  and  make  his 
country  sensible,  that  no  nation  ever  can  become  really 
great  and  permanently  prosperous,  until  it  protects  and 
cultivates  letters.  In  his  correspondence  with  general 
Harper,  on  the  probable  result  of  the  conflict  between 
revolutionary  France  and  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  same 
characteristics  of  copious  information  and  splendid  elo- 
quence appear;  his  remarks  on  the  portentous  power  of 
Russia,  doubtless  the  European  sovereigns  now  feel  to 
be  true  and  just. 

In  his  American  Register,  of  which  two  octavo  vo- 
lumes have  appeared,  he  takes  a  wider  range,  as  may  be 
seen  by  a  reference  to  his  very  admirable  introduction 
to  the  first  volume.  He  gives  an  able  and  interesting 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  political  state  of  Europe,  the  do- 
mestic occurrences  of  the  United  States,  the  congress- 
ional and  parliamentary  debates  on  the  most  important 
topics  of  finance,  navigation,  and  general  policy ;  and 
exhibits  a  fine  panorama  of  American  and  European 
literature.  He  particularly  presses  upon  his  country- 
men the  necessity  and  importance  of  a  wider  system  of 
education,  and  a  more  extended  circle  of  literature ;  his 
observations  on  the  benefits  of  a  national  university-,  are 
replete  with  wisdom  and  eloquence. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


363 

Sufficient  justice  has  not  been  rendered  to  Mr.  Walsh's 
literary  efforts  in  the  United  States ;  in  Britain,  he  is 
better  appreciated.  There  they  demanded  four  edi- 
tions of  his  Letter  on  the  French  government  in  a  few 
weeks;  whereas  here  his  own  countrymen  have  suffered 
a  second  edition  to  languish  uncirculated,  through  the 
space  of  several  years.  It  was  a  duty  to  say  thus  much 
of  one,  from  whose  lucubrations  I  have  received  so  much 
pleasure  and  instruction ;  and  I  have  nothing  further  to 
add,  than  to  express  my  warmest  wishes  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  his  literary  career,  in  the  words  of  his  own 
favourite  poet; 

"  I,  decus,  I,  nostrum,  et  melioribus  utere  fatis !" 

Medical  science  appears  to  have  made  by  far  the 
greatest  improvement  of  any  intellectual  pursuit  in  the 
United  States ;  and  the  schools  of  New-York,  Phila- 
delphia, Boston,  and  Baltimore,  are  so  well  supplied 
with  able  professors  and  lecturers,  as  to  supersede  the 
necessity  of  our  medical  students  resorting  to  Edin- 
burgh. London,  or  Paris,  for  instruction  in  any  one 
branch  of  the  healing  art.  A  medical  school  has  also 
been  recently  established  in  Kentucky,  under  the  most 
favourable  auspices  of  able  teachers,  and  a  strong  incli- 
nation on  the  part  of  the  western  States,  to  support  the 
institution  with  funds,  and  supply  it  with  pupils.  Seve- 
ral able  medical  periodical  works  are  continually  issuing 
from  the  American  press. 

With  regard  to  tnefine  arts,  our  sculpture  extends  but 
little  beyond  chisseling  grave-stones  for  a  church-yard ; 
and  our  painting,  for  want  of  individual  wealth,  is  chiefly 
confined  to  miniatures,  portraits,  and  landscapes;  the 
only  splendid  exceptions,  are  Mr.  Trumbull's  historical 
paintings  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,  the  Death  of 
Montgomery,  the  Sortie  from  Gibraltar;  together  with 
some  Scripture  pieces,  and  the  great  national  pictures, 
which  he  is  now  preparing  for  the  capitol  at  Washing- 
ton. But  American  genius  is  equal  to  that  of  Europe 
for  the  fine  arts,  as  is  evident  from  the  United  States 


304  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

having  produced  West,  Trurnbull,  Stuart,  Copeley,  Al- 
ston, and  Leslie.  The  Academies  of  the  fine  arts,  at 
New-York  and  Philadelphia,  contain  some  fine  paint- 
ings, and  a  few  good  pieces  of  sculpture,  imported  from 
Europe.  Boston,  New-York,  Philadelphia,  and  Wash- 
ington, contain  some  very  handsome  public  buildings; 
the  city-hall  of  New-York,  a  marble  edifice,  probably 
surpasses  in  magnificence  and  beauty,  every  European 
building  out  of  Italy. 

Mr.  Walsh,  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Register,  in 
translating  M.  de  Marbois's  preliminary  discourse,  says, 
"  Hitherto,  the  Americans  have  not  made  great  progress 
in  the  elegant  arts ;  their  public  libraries,  their  museums, 
would  not  in  Europe  be  thought  worthy  to  decorate  the 
mansion  of  an  opulent  amateur.  They  style  the  edifi- 
ces in  which  their  legislators  assemble,  capitals,  and 
this  appellation,  which  is  now  held  ambitious,  will  one 
day  appear  quite  modest.  They  have  no  cirques,  am- 
phitheatres, nor  mock  sea-fights.  It  will  never  perhaps 
be  necessary  for  them  to  construct  citadels,  or  environ 
their  towns  with  ditches  and  ramparts.  There  will  not 
be  seen  among  them,  either  pyramids,  or  proud  mauso- 
leums, or  basilicks,  or  temples,  like  those  of  Ephesus 
and  Rome.  Ages  must  revolve  before  they  will  erect 
those  edifices,  of  which  the  idle  and  barren  magnificence 
imposes  heavy  sacrifices  on  the  present  generation,  di- 
verts their  industry  towards  objects  of  mere  parade, 
and  entails  wretchedness  on  posterity.  The  time  of  the 
Americans  is  wisely  divided  between  permanently  use- 
ful labours  and  necessary  repose.  They  employ  them- 
selves in  preparing  their  fields  for  the  production  of 
food  ;  in  rendering  their  dwellings  commodious,  in  open- 
ing roads,  and  digging  canals.  Commerce  and  naviga- 
tion already  supply  them  with  wealth ;  the  arts  of  real 
utility  embellish  their  cities ;  and  Europe,  which  so  long 
stood  single,  as  the  country  of  the  sciences  and  human 
wisdom,  now  shares  with  America  this  noble  distinction." 

The  genius  of  America  is  peculiarly  distinguished  for 
its  invention  in  the  useful  mechanic  arts ;  in  allusion  to 
this,  the  late  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  a  few  months  be- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Jbre  his  lamented  death,  said,  "  there  are  persons  of 
some  eminence  in  Europe,  who  look  contemptuously  at 
our  country,  in  the  persuasion  that  all  creatures,  not  ex- 
cepting man,  degenerate  here.  They  triumphantly  call 
on  us  to  exhibit  a  list  of  our  scholars,  poets,  heroes,  and 
statesmen.  Be  this  the  care  of  posterity.  But,  admit- 
ting we  had  no  proud  names  to  snow,  is  it  reasonable  to 
make  such  heavy  demand  on  so  recent  a  people  ?  Could 
the  culture  of  science  be  expected  from  those  who,  in 
cultivating  the  earth,  were  obliged,  while  they  held  a 
plough  in  one  hand,  to  grasp  a  sword  in  the  other  ? 
Let  those  who  depreciate  their  brethren  of  the  west 
remember,  that  our  forests,  though  widely  spread,  gave 
no  academic  shade.  In  the  century  succeeding  Hud- 
son's voyage,  the  great  poets  of  England  flourished ; 
while  we  were  compelled  to  earn  our  daily  bread  by 
our  daily  labour.  The  ground,  therefore,  was  occupied 
before  we  had  leisure  to  make  our  approach.  The  va- 
rious chords  of  our  mother  tongue  have,  long  since, 
been  touched  to  all  their  tones,  by  minstrels,  beneath 
whose  master  hand  it  has  resounded  every  sound,  from 
the  roar  of  thunder,  rolling  along  the  vault  of  heaven, 
to  '  the  lascivious  pleasings  of  a  lute.'  British  genius 
and  taste  have  already  given  to  all  4  the  ideal  forms, 
that  imagination  can  body  forth,  a  local  habitation  and 
a  name.'  Nothing  then  remains  for  the  present  age 
but  to  repeat  their  just  thoughts  in  their  pure  style. 
Those  who,  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic,  are  too 
proud  to  perform  this  plagiary  task,  must  convey  false 
thoughts  in  the  old  classic  diction,  or  clothe  in  frippery 
phrase  the  correct  conceptions  of  their  predecessors. 
But  other  paths  remain  to  be  trodden,  other  fields  to  be 
cultivated,  other  regions  to  be  explored.  The  fertile 
earth  is  not  yet  wholly  peopled ;  the  raging  ocean  is 
not  yet  quite  subdued.  Be  it  ours  to  boast,  that  the 
first  vessel  successfully  propelled  by  steam  was  launch- 
ed on  the  bosom  of  Hudson's  river.  It  was  here  that 
American  genius,  seizing  the  arm  of  European  science, 
bent  to  the  purpose  of  our  favourite  parent  art  the 
wildest  and  most  devouring  element.  This  invention  is 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

spreading  fast  through  the  civilized  world ;  and  though 
excluded,  as  yet,  from  Russia,  will,  ere  long,  be  extend- 
ed to  that  vast  empire.  A  bird  hatched  on  the  Hudson 
will  soon. people  the  floods  of  the  Wolga,  and  cygnets, 
descended  from  an  American  swan,  glide  along  the  sur- 
face of  the  Caspian  Sea.  Then  the  hoary  genius  of 
Asia,  high  throned  on  the  peaks  of  Caucasus,  his  moist 
eye  glistening,  while  it  glances  over  the  ruins  of  Baby- 
lon, Persepohs,  Jerusalem,  and  Palmyra,  shall  bow  with 
grateful  reverence  to  the  inventive  spirit  of  this  western 
world." 

The  remedies  to  be  applied  for  the  removal  of  those 
impediments,  which  obstruct  the  progress  of  literature 
in  the  United  States,  are  not  very  difficult  of  access, 
since  no  material  causes  of  defect  exist  to  render  the 
intellect  of  America  incapable  of  any  improvement, 
within  the  compass  of  human  genius  to  attain. 

The  trading  spirit,  indeed,  cannot  be  extinguished  by 
the  anathemas  of  the  priest,  or  the  declamations  of  the 
moralist.  Massillon  may  preach,  and  Boileau  may  sa- 
tyrize,  yet  the  merchant  will  continue  to  speculate,  and 
count  his  gains.  Nor  is  it  desirable,  if  it  were  possible, 
to  exterminate  the  trading  spirit,  which  is  indelibly  and 
beneficially  written  on  the  human  heart,  and  renders 
man,  by  nature,  a  trading  animal.  It  can,  however,  and 
ought  to  be  modified  and  restrained,  lest  it  become 
excessive,  and  absorb  all  honour,  intellect,  virtue,  pro- 
priety, and  feeling  into  its  insatiable  gulf.  So  .fell 
Tyre,  and  Sidon,  and  Carthage,  and  Venice,  and  Hol- 
land. This  spirit  requires  restraint  in  the  United 
States.  The  beginning  of  the  remedy  must  be  found  in 
meliorating  our  systems  of  elementary  education ;  in  ren- 
dering them  seminaries,  where  the  morals  of  youth  may 
be  purified  and  exalted,  and  their  understandings  in- 
vigorated and  expanded.  If  this  be  once  done,  the 
Colleges,  of  course,  must  adopt  a  larger  and  more  libe- 
ral plan  of  instruction  ;  whence  the  absorbing  tendency 
of  the  trading  spirit  will  be  restrained  and  counter- 
poised; the  love  of  literature  flourish;  literary  compe- 
tition spring  into  existence ;  literary  rewards  and  honours 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

create  an  effectual  demand  for  the  exertions  of  genius 
and  learning;  large  private  collections  of  books  and 
ample  public  libraries  be  gathered  together;  and  the 
whole  nation  rise  in  the  scale  of  power  and  dignity,  by 
having  the  life's-blood  of  intellect  and  knowledge  in- 
fused into  all  its  veins  and  arteries,  from  the  source  of 
circulation,  the  heart.  Then,  indeed,  may  we  expect 
the  refinements  of  art,  and  science,  and  letters,  to  follow 
in  the  train  of  opulence,  aud  purify  it  from  its  grossness. 

The  means  of  literary  competition  must  be  provided 
and  multiplied.  JVJen  of  genius  must  be  roused  to  ex- 
ertion by  the  collision  of  kindred  genius.  "  Give  me 
kings  to  run  with,  and  I  will  start,"  said  Alexander, 
when  urged  to  contend  at  the  Olympic  games.  Men  of 
great  talents,  if  they  see  no  high  standard  of  literary 
excellence  raised  in  the  country,  either  pursue  some 
other  vocation,  or  sink  into  indolence  and  ease.  This 
desirable  purpose  may  be  accomplished  by  properly 
constructed  Literary  Societies,  where  men  meet  to- 
gether, to  contribute,  each  his  share,  to  the  common 
stock  of  intellect,  and  mutually  watch  over,  collide  with, 
and  invigorate  each  other's  understanding.  A  remark- 
able illustration  of  their  utility  is  furnished  by  the 
French  Academy,  founded  in  163:3,  by  Cardinal  Richlieu, 
to  improve  the  French  language,  grammar,  pootry,  and 
eloquence.  This  Academy  published  an  excellent 
Dictionary,  and  exceedingly  improved  the  style  of 
French  composition.  In  its  first  harangues,  the  style  is 
cold,  barren,  feeble,  insipid,  and  uninteresting.  As  we 
advance  in  the  perusal  of  its  volumes,  the  language  be- 
comes richer,  more  splendid,  arid,  occasionally,  elegant 
and  vigorous ;  and  the  concluding  dissertations  are  full 
of  the  happiest  sentiments,  conveyed  in  language  bril- 
liant, energetic,  and  eloquent. 

In  a  literary  society,  properly  constituted,  and  well  con- 
ducted, every  member  is  continually  incited  to  diligence 
in  the  composition  of  his  writings,  because  he  knows 
that  they  will  undergo  a  strict  examination  from  his 
fellows,  whose  criticisms  wi!l  enable  him  to  correct 
what  is  erroneous,  brighten  what  is  obscure,  lop  what 


368  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

is  superfluous,  invigorate  his  sentiments,  and  chasten 
his  language.  Such  institutions  also  diffuse  an  honour- 
able spirit  of  literary  ambition  over  the  community,  by 
holding  up  an  object  of  esteem,  towards  which  men  of  ge- 
nius may  press,  for  enrolment  among  its  members;  by  giv- 
ing to  the  public  its  lucubrations,  to  form  a  literary  reposi- 
tory; and  by  creating  models  of  good  writing,  to  strength- 
en the  understanding,  and  refine  the  taste  of  the  nation 
into  which  they  breathe  the  spirit  of  their  intel- 
ligence. And  such  an  Institution  is  exceedingly  bene- 
ficial to  the  members,  in  enlarging  their  knowledge  and 
polishing  their  taste  by  the  collision  of  intellect  in  their 
literary  conferences.  In  such  a  republic  of  letters,  men 
bear  sway  in  proportion  to  their  superior  mind ;  to  the 
opinions  of  such  men  on  matters  of  literary  investiga- 
tion, attention  is  always  paid  and  rewarded  by  corres- 
ponding improvement.  Men  of  equal  or  similar  talents- 
and  acquisitions  contend  in  this  amicable  conflict,  and 
from  the  reciprocal  contest  results  mutual  instruction, 
and  the  growth  of  wisdom  and  information  is  rapidly 
increased  by  the  continual  application  of  the  most 
powerful  incitements  to  intellectual  exertion;  namely, 
the  authority  of  the  already  celebrated,  the  contradic- 
tion of  aspiring  candidates  for  literary  renown,  the  de- 
sire of  praise  so  generally  prevalent,  the  dread  of  ridi- 
cule, which  so  much  more  generally  prevails,  and 
finally,  by  the  elevated  wish  to  become  useful  to  our 
country  and  to  the  world. 

There  are  learned  Societies  in  Boston,  New-York, 
and  Philadelphia,  which  have  contributed,  and  are  con- 
tinually contributing  much  to  the  growth  of  intellect 
and  information  in  the  United  States.  The  Historical, 
and  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Societies  of  .New- 
York,  have  been  peculiarly  serviceable  in  promoting 
the  progress  of  letters  and  science.  Some  of  their 
members  have  read  able  and  instructive  papers;  the 
orations  of  the  late  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  were 
compositions  peculiarly  splendid  and  finished ;  and  Mr. 
Clinton's  Introductory  discourse  to  the  Literary  and 
Philosophical  Society  covers  a  vast  and  various  extent 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  science  and  erudition^  Indeed,  Governor  Clinton 
has  always  approved  himself  the  warm  friend  and  pa- 
tron of  art,  literature,  and  science,  as  the  means  best 
calculated  to  make  his  country  permanently  illustrious 
and  powerful ;  as  well  as  rendered  them  essential  ser- 
vice by  his  own  personal  contributions.  The  Corpora- 
tion of  the  City  of  New- York  deserve  all  praise  for 
their  magnificent  appropriation  of  an  extensive  range 
of  buildings,  to  the  exclusive  use  of  literary  and  scienti- 
fic societies. 

But,  perhaps,  the  most  effectual  means  of  promoting 
the  progress  of  learning  in  the  United  States,  would  be 
the  establishment  of  a  National  University.  Mr.  Blodget, 
in  his  Economica^  details  at  length  General  Washing- 
ton's views  and  wishes  respecting  this  important  subject  j 
Mr.  Walsh,  in  the  Introduction  to  the  first  volume  of 
his  Register,  has  lent  all  the  aid  of  his  talents  and  elo- 
quence, to  set  forth  the  vast  advantages  of  such  a  mea- 
sure. And  the  President,  in  his  Message  of  the  2d  of 
December,  1817,  suggests  to  Congress  "  the  propriety 
of  recommending  to  the  States  an  amendment  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  giving  to  congress  power  to  insti- 
tute seminaries  of  learning,  for  the  all-important  pur- 
pose of  diffusing  knowledge  among  our  fellow-citizens 
throughout  the  United  States." 

So  early  as  the  year  1775,  at  the  very  commence^ 
ment  of  the  revolutionary  struggle,  General  Washing- 
ton, while  in  camp  at  Cambridge,  near  Boston,  looked 
forward  to  the  establishment  of  a  National  University. 
Not  being  able,  when  living,  to  effect  this  object,  he  left, 
by  his  will,  stock  equal  to  twenty-five  thousand  dollars* 
towards  establishing  such  an  institution  in  the  Federal 
city ;  and  invited  the  subscriptions  of  his  fellow-citizens 
for  the  same  purpose.  He  directs  the  annual  proceeds 
of  his  own  legacy  to  be  invested  at  compound  interest, 
until  the  fund,  together  with  'other  subscriptions,  should 
be  sufficient  to  accomplish  the  whole  plan  proposed.  If 
ever  a  National  University,  liberally  endowed  and  well 
sustained  by  the  talents  and  learning  of  its  professors, 
shall  be  established,  it  will  do  more  towards  promoting 

47 


370  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  progress  of  letters  in  the  United  States,  than  any 
single  institution  which  has  yet  been  planted.  In  such 
a  national  seminary,  the  whole  circle  of  the  arts,  and 
sciences,  and  erudition,  should  be  taught ;  the  classics, 
both  Greek  and  Latin,  thoroughly,  as  the  best  basis  of 
all  liberal  education;  to  which  add  the  mathematics 
and  natural  philosophy,  and  regular  courses  of  lectures 
on  moral  philosophy,  political  economy,  belles  lettres 
and  rhetoric,  elocution,  metaphysical  science,  municipal 
jurisprudence,  and  the  law  of  nature  and  nations.  It 
would  be  a  patriotic  duty  for  all  classes  of  society,  the 
people  at  large,  the  men  of  leisure,  the  men  of  business, 
the  physicians,  the  lawyers,  the  statesmen,  and  the  di- 
vines of  America,  to  unite  their  powerful  efforts  to 
create  and  maintain  such  a  national  institution ;  another 
Athens  in  this  western  orb,  which,  under  their  guar- 
dian auspices,  may  long  flourish,  as  the  general  reposi- 
tory of  learning;  and  eventually  render  these  United 
States,  at  once  the  bulwark  and  ornament  of  literature 
within  their  own  extensive  dominions,  and  the  perma- 
nent object  of  esteem  and  admiration  to  the  whole  sur- 
rounding world. 

The  following  observations  of  Mr.  Walsh,  in  relation 
to  this  subject,  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  nor  too 
widely  circulated. 

<k  Sovereigns  and  governments  alone  can  raise  up  insti- 
tutions for  education,  of  the  amplitude  and  rnechaBism 
required  to  give  energy  and  efficacy  to  all  the  human 
faculties.  Without  such  institutions  we  cannot,  in  the 
United  States,  expect  to  display  that  perfection  of  indi- 
vidual and  social  being  which  the  European  nations  have 
nearly  attained,  and  which  we  are,  in  other  respects,  be- 
yond the  rest  of  the  world,  privileged  to  reach.  It  is 
to  the  national  government  that  we  must  look  for  the 
means  of  becoming  the  rivals  of  Europe  in  the  pursuits 
which  give  most  honour  and  happiness  to  our  species. 
The  state-governments  have  not  the  ability,  and  are  not 
likely  to  have  the  inclination,  to  create  those  means. 
We  are  a  great  commercial,  and  are  to  be  a  great  mili- 
tary people,  only  through  the  federal  system ;  we  can 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


371 


become  a  literary  and  philosophical  people  by  the  same 
agency  alone.  Att,  these  qualifications  are  necessary  to 
constitute  national  greatness,  upon  the  scale  which  suits 
our  unrivalled  opportunities.  We  must  be  Greece, 
Rome,  and  Carthage,  at  once;  or,  what  is  more,  modern 
Italy,  France,  and  England,  in  the  same  frame/' 

Generally  speaking,  our  systems  of  education  for 
girls,  are  practically  better  than  those  for  boys ;  and  ac- 
cordingly, our  women  generally  are  more  intelligent 
and  conversible  than  the  men.  In  some  of  our  larger 
cities,  it  is  fashionable  for  the  young  ladies  to  learn  the 
elements  of  botany  and  chymistry,  in  addition  to  the 
common  rudiments  of  female  instruction.  In  our  own 
city  of  New-York,  Mr.  Griscom,  a  celebrated  teacher, 
has  established  a  course  of  lectures  on  natural  philoso- 
phy for  young  ladies,  who  attend  him  in  great  numbers, 
from  our  most  respectable  families.  Such  a  course  of 
instruction,  combined  with  suitable  reading  and  reflec- 
tion at  home,  would  lay  the  basis  of  solid  and  substan- 
tial information,  as  the  means  of  utility  and  delight 
throughout  the  whole  of  life. 

Miss  Hannah  More's  "  Strictures  on  the  Modern  Sys- 
tem of  Female  Education"  are  admirably  adapted  to  ren- 
der women  sensible,  well-bred,  and  excellent,  in  all 
the  various  relations  and  charities  of  life.  They  teach, 
that  domestic  virtue  is  woman's  chiefest  ornament  and 
praise,  and  more  likely  to  be  found  in  a  liberally  educa- 
ted, than  in  an  unintelligent  female.  Her  observations 
on  this  point  are  peculiarly  good ;  there  is,  at  present, 
room  only  for  the  few  following  sentences.  "  Since, 
then,  there  is  a  season,  when  the  youthful  must  cease  to 
be  young,  and  the  beautiful  to  excite  admiration,  to 
learn  how  to  grow  old  gracefully,  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the 
rarest  and  most  valuable  arts  which  can  be  taught  to 
woman.  And,  it  must  be  confessed,  it  is  a  most  severe 
trial  for  those  women  to  be  called  to  lay  down  beauty, 
who  have  nothing  else  to  take  up.  It  is  for  this  sober 
season  of  life,  that  education  should  lay  up  its  rich  re- 
sources. However  disregarded  they  may  hitherto  have 
been,  they  will  be  wanted  now.  When  admirers  fall 


372  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

away,  and  flatterers  become  mute,  the  mind  will  be  dri- 
ven to  retire  into  itself;  and  if  it  find  no  entertainment 
at  home,  it  will  be  driven  back  again  upon  the  world 
with  increased  force.  Yet,  forgetting  this,  do  we  not 
seem  to  educate  our  daughters  exclusively  for  the  tran- 
sient period  of  youth,  when  it  is  to  maturer  life  we  ought 
to  advert?  Do  we  not  educate  them  for  a  crowd,  for- 
getting that  they  are  to  live  at  home  ?  For  the  world, 
and  not  for  themselves  ?  For  show,  and  not  for  use  ? 
For  time,  and  not  for  eternity  ?" 

"  The  chief  end  to  be  proposed  in  cultivating  the  un- 
derstandings of  women,  is  to  qualify  them  for  the  prac- 
tical purposes  bf  life.  ^Their  knowledge  is  not  often, 
like  me  learning  of  men,  to  be  reproduced  in  some  lite- 
rary composition,  nor  even  in  any  learned  profession; 
but  it  is  to  come  out  in  conduct.  It  is  to  be  exhibited  in 
life  and  manners.  A  lady  studies,  not  that  she  may 
qualify  herself  to  become  an  orator  or  a  pleader ;  not  that 
she  may  learn  to  debate,  but  to  act.  She  is  to  read  the 
best  books,  not  so  much  to  enable  her  to  talk  of  them, 
as  to  bring  the  improvement  which  they  furnish,  to  the 
rectification  of  her  principles,  and  the  formation  of  her 
habits.  The  great  uses  of  study  to  a  woman  are,  to 
enable  her  to  regulate  her  own  mind,  and  to  be  instru- 
mental to  the  good  of  others.  To  woman,  therefore, 
whatever  be  her  rank,  1  would  recommend  a  predomi- 
nance of  those  more  sober  studies,  which,  not  having 
display  for  their  object,  may  make  her  wise  without 
vanity,  happy  without  witnesses,  and  content  without 
panegyrists ;  the  exercise  of  which  will  not  bring  cele- 
brity, out  improve  usefulness." 

The  American  ladies  have  learned,  that  it  is  not  alto- 
gether the  business  of  their  lives  to  minister  to  the  mere 
pleasure  of  man,  as  the  plaything  of  his  hours  of  relaxa- 
tion from  the  toils  of  ambition,  or  the  cravings  of  wealth ; 
to  be  entirely  absorbed  in  the  pursuits  of  ephemeral 
fashion,  and  "  when  God  has  given  them  one  face,  to 
make  unto  themselves  another,  to  jig,  to  amble,  and 
lisp,  and  nickname  God's  creatures,  and  make  their 
wantonness  their  ignorance."  They  have  discovered, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  373 

that  God  has  given  them  such  high  capacities  of  ex- 
cellence, such  acute  perception,  such  exquisite  feeling, 
such  ardent  affection,  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  man's 
companion  and  guide ;  the  soother  of  his  sorrows  and 
heigntener  of  his  joys ;  the  object  of  his  proud  submis- 
sion, his  dignified  obedience,  his  chivalrous  worship ; 
the  being  whose  smile  forms  the  joy  of  his  life,  the  sun- 
shine of  his  existence. 

"  Till  Hymen  brought  his  love-delighted  hour, 
There  dwelt  no  joy  in  Eden's  roseate  bower. 
In  vain  the  viewless  seraph,  lingering  there, 
At  starry  midnight  charra'd  the  silent  air  ;   ' 
In  vain  the  wild-bird  caroll'd  from  the  steep, 
To  hail  the  sun  slow  wheeling  from  the  deep  ; 
In  vain,  to  soothe  the  solitary  shade, 
Aerial  notes  in  mingling  measure  play'd  ; 
The  summer  wind  that  shook  the  spangled  tree, 
The  whispering  wave,  the  murmuring  of  the  bee. 
Still  slowly  passed  the  melancholy  day, 
And  still  the  stranger  wist  not  where  to  stray ; 
The  world  was  sad,  the  garden  was  a  wild, 
And  man,  the  hermit,  sigh'd  till  woman 


CHAPTER  VII. 

On  the  Habits,  Manners,  and  Character  of  the  United 
States. 

JL  HAT  foreigners  who  do  not  speak  the  same  language 
as  the  people  of  this  country,  should  be  extremely  igno- 
rant of  the  resources  and  character  of  the  Americans, 
is  not  a  subject  of  surprise ;  the  very  circumstance  of 
their  speaking  in  a  different  tongue,  added  to  the  gene- 
ral prevalence  of  despotism  in  their  respective  govern- 
ments, and  want  of  information  in  their  subjects,  will 
sufficiently  account  for  their  unacquaintance  with  the 
past  history,  the  present  situation,  the  future  prospects 
of  the  United  States.  But  Britain  can  find  no  such  ex- 
cuse for  her  portentous  ignorance  of  this  country ;  her 
blood  flows  in  every  vein,  and  quickens  every  artery 
of  the  giant  offspring,  sprung  from  her  teeming  loins ; 
her  language,  laws,  religion,  habits,  manners,  and  pur- 
suits, have  reproduced  another  Britain  in  this  western 
world,  on  a  far  more  extended  scale  of  capacity,  magni- 
ficence, and  power,  than  its  venerable  mother  can  ever 
hope  to  attain ;  cooped  and  cabined  in  as  she  is,  by  the 
narrow  dimensions  of  her  own  territorial  dominions. 

Indeed,  the  general,  not  to  say  universal  ignorance 
which  prevails  in  Britain,  alike  in  the  government  and 
in  the  people,  respecting  all  the  essential  qualities,  and 
national  characteristics  of  these  United  States,  is  almost 
incredible  to  those  who  have  not  attentively  examined 
the  subject.  Perhaps  it  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  inter- 
course between  the  two  countries  being  almost  exclu- 
sively commercial ;  for  in  general,  merchants  are  not  apt 
to  investigate  a  country,  either  very  comprehensively, 
or  very  accurately,  beyond  the  states  of  its  markets, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  375 

and  the  course  of  its  prices  current.  And,  until  it  shall 
become  the  fashion  for  the  gentlemen  and  men  of  edu- 
cation, both  of  America  and  of  Britain,  to  travel  over, 
and  explore  each  other's  country,  the  two  nations  must, 
and  will  remain  in  profound  ignorance  of  their  recipro- 
cal relation,  character,  and  interest. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  the  British  government  has  not 
been  sufficiently  careful  to  send  out  able  and  intelligent 
ambassadors  and  ministers  to  the  United  States. 

The  reasons  why  the  British  diplomacy  is  in  general 
defective ;  and  why,  in  particular,  so  few  able  ambassa- 
dors have  been  sent  out  by  her  to  these  United  States, 
are  detailed  at  length  in  "  The  Resources  of  the  British 
Empire"  from  p.  332  to  351 ;  containing  also,  the 
causes  of  Britain's  general  unacquaintance  with  the 
movements  and  dispositions  of  foreign  nations,  and  of 
her  neglecting  to  avail  herself  of  the  presses  of  other 
countries,  in  order  to  tell  her  own  story,  and  to  justify 
her  own  measures  to  the  world. 

This  is  the.  more  to  be  regretted,  as  it  regards  the 
United  States  and  Britain,  because  the  interests  of  both 
countries  are  similar;  and  their  mutual  peace,  good  un- 
derstanding, and  friendship,  redound  so  much  to  the  es- 
sential benefit  of  both.  M.  Talleyrand,  first  a  bishop 
under  the  old  regime,  then  a  citizen  sans-culotte,  then 
a  revolutionary  and  imperial  prince,  and  finally,  a  Bour- 
bon prime  minister,  was  so  well  aware  of  the  recipro- 
cal interests  of  America  and  Britain,  that  in  a  memoir 
read  to  the  National  Institute,  he  proposed  the  fixing  a 
powerful  French  establishment  in  the  United  States,  as 
the  only  means  of  counteracting  the  peaceful  and  ami- 
cable tendencies  of  two  nations  sprung  from  the  same 
stock,  speaking  the  same  language,  living  under  the 
same,  or  similar  laws,  using  the  same  religion,  and  ex- 
hibiting the  same  habits  and  manners. 

The  clerical  citizen  prince  complains  grievously,  of 
the  existence  of  any  commercial  or  friendly  intercourse 
between  America  and  Britain ;  when,  after  the  revolu- 
tionary struggle,  in  which  the  French  so  effectually 
aided  their  new  allies,  and  the  United  States  had  thrown 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

off  the  dominion  of  the  English,. every  reason  seemed  to 
indicate  a  dissolution  of  those  mercantile  connexions 
which  had  before  subsisted  between  two  portions  of  the 
same  people.  The  chief  of  these  reasons  were — the 
recollection  of  the  evils  produced  by  a  seven  years' 
war;  a  defiance  and  hatred  of  Britain,  and  attachment 
to  France,  as  their  companion  in  arms,  and  their  libe- 
rator from  colonial  vassalage ;  attachment,  most  forcibly 
manifested  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  between 
France  and  England,  in  the  year  1793;  at  which  pe- 
riod the  conversation  and  actions  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, their  newspapers  and  pamphlets,  their  town-meet- 
ings and  public  speeches,  their  illuminations  and  cla- 
mour, almost  drove  the  administration  of  Washington 
himself  to  manifest,  by  joining  the  French  revolutionary 
republic,  in  its  war  against  Britain,  the  strong  inclina- 
tion towards  France,  and  the  equally  deadly  hatred  to- 
wards England,  which  then  pervaded  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  United  States. 

These,  and  other  reasons,  it  was  hoped  would,  for 
ever,  turn  the  tide  of  American  commerce  from  its  ac- 
customed channel ;  or,  if  it  should  happen  to  incline  a 
little  towards  the  shores  of  England,  it  would  require  a 
very  trifling  exertion,  on  the  part  of  France,  to  divert  it 
entirely  to  her  own  dominions.  Closer,  and  more  accu- 
rate observation,  however,  will  soon  detect  the  fallacy 
of  all  such  conclusions,  and  point  out  the  helplessness  of 
an  artificial  and  circuitous  policy  to  resist  the  universal 
efficiency  of  nature  herself,  when  she  appeals  to  the 
human  heart,  in  the  accents  of  a  kindred  tongue,  and 
with  the  all-prevailing  voice  of  manifest  advantage. 
Individuals  may  sometimes,  and  under  certain  circum- 
stances, feel  the  impulses  of  gratitude,  and  act  under  a 
deep  and  permanent  sense  of  kindness  shown  and  bene- 
fits received;  a  great  proportion  of  individuals,  how- 
ever, like  Milton's  hero,  consider  it  to  be  a  debt,  "  so 
burdensome,  still  paying,  still  to  owe,"  that  they  are 
eager  to  cast  it  off  for  ever,  by  returning  the  recom- 
pense of  hatred  and  calumny  into  the  bosom  of  their 
benefactor.  Nations,  large  masses  of  men,  being  * 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


377 


body  in  continual  flux,  liable  to  perpetual  change  in 
opinions,  sentiments,  relations,  and  actions,  never  can  be 
capable  of  gratitude  to  other  nations.  It  is  idle,  there- 
fore, for  France  to  insist  upon  a  grateful  return  from 
the  United  States,  on  account  of  her  aiding  them  in 

O 

their  revolutionary  war;  and  equally  idle  for  Britain  to 
request  that  the  American  people  shall  cease  to  revile 
and  calumniate  all  her  institutions  and  proceedings,  be- 
cause her  capital  and  credit  have  enabled  the  United 
States  to  render  themselves  opulent  and  powerful  in  an 
extensive  commerce,  in  growing  manufactures,  in  a 
widening  agriculture,  in  a  variety  of  thriving  moneyed 
establishments.  Interest  and  ambition  are  the  pole-star 
and  magnet  of  nations ;  gratitude  and  affection  the  in- 
centives of  individual,  not  of  national  action.  Besides, 
the  gratitude  of  America  was  due  to  Louis  XVI.  per- 
sonally, and  was  fully  cancelled  by  his  subsequent  re- 
gret, that  he  had  ever  assisted  the  United  States,  and 
by  the  efforts  of  his  Cabinet,  in  the  year  1783,  to  pre- 
vent England  from  acknowledging  their  independence, 
to  exclude  them  from  the  Newfoundland  fisheries,  and 
to  confine  their  territory  to  the  eastward  of  the  Alle- 
ghany  mountains;  all  showing,  that  the  object  of  France 
was  not  regard  to  the  United  States,  but  a  desire  to 
weaken  both  America  and  Britain,  by  protracting  the 
conflict  between  them. 

Whoever  has  well  observed  America,  cannot  doubt 
that  she  still  remains  essentially  English,  in  language, 
habits,  laws,  customs,  manners,  morals,  and  religion; 
that  her  ancient  commerce  with  England  increased, 
many  fold,  instead  of  declining  in  activity  and  extent,  sub- 
sequent to  the  independence  of  the  United  States;  and 
that,  consequently,  so  far  as  relates  to  commercial  in- 
tercourse, the  independence  of  America  has  been  bene- 
ficial to  Britain.  M.  Talleyrand^  indeed,  labours  to 
prove,  that  the  inconsiderate  conduct  of  the  old  French 
government  (as  contradistinguished  from  the  revolu- 
tionary system)  laid  the  foundation  of  the  commercial 
success  of  England  with  the  United  States.  He  thinks, 
that  if,  after  the  peace  which  secured  the  independence 

48 


378  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  Amerkay  France  had  been  sufficiently  sensible  of  the 
full  advantage  of  her  existing  position,  she  would  have 
continued  and  sought  to  multiply  exceedingly,  those 
political,  commercial,  and  social  relations,  which,  during 
the  revolutionary  war,  had  been  established  between 
her  and  her  Transatlantic  Allies ;  and  which  had  been 
forcibly,  and  bloodily  broken  off  with  Britain.  If  this 
had  been  done,  the  ancient  habits  and  relations  between 
America  and  England  being  almost  forgotten ;  France 
could  have  contended  with  peculiar  advantages  against 
every  thing  which  had  the  least  tendency  to  reconcile 
the  Americans  with  the  English;  so  as  to  prevent  the 
possibility  of  any  cordial  and  permanent  friendship  ever 
existing  between  the  two  nations. 

But  the  French  Court  was  fearful,  that  the  same 
principles  of  democracy,  which  she  had  protected  and 
encouraged  by  her  arms  in  America,  should  introduce 
themselves,  and  be  disseminated  among  her  own  peo- 
ple; and  therefore,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war  in 
1783,  she  did  not  sufficiently  continue,  and  promote  her 
political  and  commercial  connexions  with  the  United 
States.  Whereas  England  wisely  forgot,  and  subdued 
the  bitterness  of  her  resentments ;  she  immediately  re- 
opened her  channels  of  communication  both  social  and 
mercantile  with  America,  and  rendered  them  still  more 
active  than  at  any  period  prior  to  the  Revolution.  By 
such  conduct  she  directed  the  attention  of  the  United 
States  towards  a  profitable  market;  and  thus  increased 
the  obstacles  to  the  ascendency  of  French  influence. 
For  the  will  of  man  is  always  powerfully  swayed  by  in- 
clination and  interest ;  and  notwithstanding  the  occur- 
rence of  a  long  and  sanguinary  war,  and  all  the  efforts 
of  political  faction,  the  Americans  have  a  natural  bias 
towards  England,  to  whose  kindred  people  all  their 
own  habits  assimilate  them. 

Identity  of  language  itself,  as  M.  Talleyrand  observes, 
is  a  fundamental  relation  between  different  individuals 
and  different  countries ;  upon  which  the  political  moral- 
ist, and  the  moral  philosopher,  cannot  too  patiently,  and 
too  profoundly  meditate.  This  very  identity  of  tongue 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  379 

establishes  between  the  two  nations,  America  and  Eng- 
land, a  common  character,  which  will  always  enable, 
nay,  induce  them  to  recognize  and  consort  with  each 
other.  They  mutually  feel  themselves  at  home,  when- 
ever they  travel  into  each  other's  territory,  they  give 
and  receive  reciprocal  pleasure  in  the  interchange  of 
sentiment  and  thought ;  in  the  discussion  of  their  various 
opinions,  views,  and  interests.  But  an  insurmountable 
barrier  is  raised  up  between  two  different  people,  who 
speak  two  different  languages ;  and  who,  therefore,  can- 
not utter  a  single  word,  without  being  compelled  to  re- 
member, that  they  do  not  belong  to  the  same  country ; 
between  whom  every  solitary  transmission  of  sentiment 
and  thought  is  irksome  labour,  and  not  a  social  enjoy- 
ment ;  who  never  can  be  made  to  understand  each  other 
thoroughly;  and  with  whom  the  result  of  conversation, 
after  tne  fatigue  of  unavailing  efforts  to  be  reciprocally 
intelligible,  is  to  find  themselves  reciprocally  ridiculous. 
This  of  course  applies  to  the  mass  of  a  people ;  there 
are  well  educated  individuals  in  most  countries,  who 
can  converse  with  each  other  fully  in  a  tongue  not 
common  to  both  speakers. 

Accordingly,  notwithstanding  the  government  of 
France,  both  under  the  Bourbons  during  the  old 
regime  and  under  the  Revolutionary  regicides,  whether 
democratic,  directorial,  consular,  or  imperial,  always  ex- 
ercised considerable  influence  over  the  government  of 
America;  which  so  far  from  being  influenced  by,  was 
always  prone  to  suspect  and  take  offence  at  every  act 
of  the  British  government,  however  harmless  or  well 
intended ;  yet,  in  every  part  of  the  United  States,  indi- 
vidual Englishmen  feel  themselves  to  be  Americans; 
and  individual  Frenchmen  find  themselves  to  be  as  com- 
pletely strangers,  as  if  they  were  animals  of  different 
species  at  least;  even  if  they  might  be  considered 
generically  the  same. 

Nor  is  it  any  marvel  to  see  this  natural,  necessary, 
habitual  assimilation  towards  England,  in  a  country 
where,  in  addition  to  the  identity  of  language  in  both, 
the  great  distinguishing  and  characteristic  features  of 


389  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  form  of  government,  and  of  the  system  of  municipal 
law,  whether  in  the  Federal  Union,  or  in  the  separate 
State  sovereignties,  are  impressed  with  so  strong  a 
family  resemblance  to  the  leading  lineaments  of  the 
British  Constitution.  The  personal  liberty  of  the  indivi- 
dual citizen  in  the  United  States,  rests  upon  precisely 
the  same  foundations  as  those  which  support  the  per- 
sonal freedom  of  the  British  subject;  namely,  the  habeas 
corpus  act)  and  trial  by  jury.  Whoever  attends  the  sit- 
tings of  Congress,  and  the  State  legislatures,  and  listens 
to  the  discussions  respecting  the  framing  of  laws  whe- 
ther for  the  Union,  or  for  the  separate  States ;  will  hear 
all  their  quotations,  analogies,  and  examples,  taken  from 
the  laws,  the  history,  the  customs,  the  parliamentary 
rules  and  usages  of  England.  In  the  American  courts 
of  justice,  the  authorities  cited  are  the  statutes,  the 
judgments,  the  decrees,  the  reported  dicisions  of  the 
English  courts ;  in  familiar  and  friendly  accompaniment 
with  those  of  the  American  tribunals. 

In  the  higher  and  more  cultivated  classes  of  society 
in  both  countries,  there  is  also  a  community  of  taste  and 
sentiment  on  subjects  of  literature,  and  a  common  feel- 
ing of  pride  in  the  great  poets,  philosophers,  historians, 
and  general  writers  of  the  mother  country,  that  forms  a 
strong  bond  of  union. 

Now,  if  a  people  so  trained  and  so  circumstanced, 
have  no  natural,  no  habitual  bias  and  inclination  towards 
England,  we  must  renounce  all  belief  and  trust,  in  the 
controlling  influences  of  language,  laws,  habits,  manners, 
customs,  and  usages,  upon  the  opinions,  feelings,  passions, 
actions,  and  character  of  men ;  we  must  deny  that  man 
receives  any  effectual  impressions,  any  permanent  modi- 
fications, from  surrounding  circumstances  ;  from  all  that 
he  sees,  hears,  reads,  observes,  and  is  engaged  in,  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave.  It  is,  comparatively,  of  little 
moment,  that  the  names  of  a  Republic  and  a  Monarchy 
appear  to  place  between  the  two  governments  distinc- 
tions which  cannot  be  confounded,  and  obstacles  which 
cannot  be  surmounted.  For,  in  fact,  there  are  strong 
republican  features  in  the  representative  portion  of  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

English  Constitution;  and  there  are  monarchal  linea- 
ments distinctly  visible  in  the  executive  branches  of  the 
American  constitutions,  both  state  and  federal.  This 
was  more  peculiarly  the  case,  as  long  as  the  presidency 
of  General  Washington  continued ;  for  the  force  of  pub- 
lic opinion  and  sentiment,  attached  to  his  person  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  United  States,  bore  a  striking  re- 
semblance to  that  kind  of  magical  power  and  illusion, 
which  many  most  distinguished  political  writers  attri- 
bute to  the  pervading  influences  of  monarchy,  under  the 
name  of  loyalty  to  the  reigning  sovereign. 

This  sentiment,  however,  did  not  survive  the  execu- 
tive magistracy  of  Washington ;  the  strange  and  way- 
ward conduct  of  President  Adams,  together  with  the 
schism  in  the  federal  party  during  his  administration,  for- 
bade all  personal  attachment  to  him.  And  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son and  Mr.  Madison  avowedly  administered  the  fede- 
ral government  altogether  on  democratic  principles  and 
views,  which  cut  up  by  the  root  all  possibility  of  per- 
sonal attachment,  stifle  every  generous  feeling  of  enthu- 
siasm and  reverence,  and  degrade  the  government  of  a 
country  from  the  high  eminence  of  a  national  adminis- 
tration, into  the  deep  abyss  of  the  dominion  of  a  faction. 
Mr.  Monroe,  indeed,  has  lately  been  making  progress 
through  the  United  States,  and  "  buying  golden  opinions 
from  all  sorts  of  men,"  with  the  hope  of  rekindling  that 
flame  of  loyalty,  and  national  attachment  to  their  execu- 
tive chief,  which  glowed  in  the  bosoms  of  the  American 
people  for  the  illustrious  Washington,  "  first  in  war, 
first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-citi- 
zens." 

It  is  surprising,  that  Mr.  Talleyrand,  who  has  made 
so  many  profound  remarks,  and  drawn  such  wise  and 
comprehensive  inferences,  in  his  Memoir  to  the  National 
Institute,  should  so  egregiously  have  mistaken  the  cha- 
racter of  the  Americans.  He  says,  that  as  a  people 
newly  constituted  and  formed  of  different  elements,  their 
national  character  is  not  yet  decided.  They  remain  Eng- 
lish from  ancient  habit;  and  because  they  have  not 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

yet  had  time  to  become  completely  Americans.  Their 
climate  is  not  yet  formed :  their  character  still  less.  If 
we  consider  those  populous  cities  filled  with  English. 
Germans,  Irish,  and  Dutch,  as  well  as  with  their  indige- 
nous inhabitants ;  those  remote  towns  so  distant  from 
each  other;  those  vast  uncultivated  tracts  of  soil,  tra- 
versed rather  than  inhabited  by  men  who  belong  to  no 
country;  what  common  bond  can  we  conceive  in  the 
midst  of  so  many  incongruities  ?  It  is  a  novel  sight  to 
the  traveller,  who,  setting  out  from  a  principal  city 
where  society  is  in  perfection,  passes  in  succession 
through  all  the  degrees  of  civilization  and  industry, 
which  he  constantly  finds  growing  weaker  and  weaker, 
until  in  a  few  days  he  arrives  at  a  misshapen  and  rude 
cabin,  formed  of  the  trunks  of  trees  lately  cut  down. 

Such  a  journey  is  a  sort  of  practical  and  living  ana- 
lysis of  the  origin  of  people  and  states  ;  we  set  out  from 
the  most  compounded  mixture,  to  arrive  at  the  most 
simple  ingredients;  at  the  end  of  every  day  we  lose 
sight  of  some  of  those  inventions  which  our  wants,  as 
they  have  increased,  have  rendered  necessary ;  and  it 
appears  as  if  we  travelled  backwards  in  the  history  of 
the  progress  of  the  human  mind.  If  such  a  sight  lays 
a  strong  hold  upon  the  imagination ;  if  we  please  our- 
selves by  finding  in  the  succession  of  space  what  appears 
to  belong  only  to  the  succession  of  time,  we  must  make 
up  our  minds  to  behold  but  few  social  connexions,  and 
no  common  character  amongst  men,  who  appear  so  lit- 
tle to  belong  to  the  same  association.  In  many  districts 
the  sea  and  the  woods  have  formed  fishermen  and  wood- 
cutters. Now,  such  men  have  no  country;  and  their 
social  morality  is  reduced  within  a  very  small  compass. 
Man  is  the  disciple  of  that  which  surrounds  him.  Hence, 
he  whose  bounds  are  circumscribed  by  nothing  but  de- 
serts, cannot  receive  lessons  with  regard  to  the  social 
comforts  of  life.  The  idea  of  the  need  which  men  have 
of  each  other,  does  not  exist  in  him ;  and  it  is  merely 
by  decomposing  the  trade  which  he  exercises,  that  one 
can  find  out  the  principles  of  his  affections  and  the  sum 
of  his  morality. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.  333 

The  American  wood-cutter  does  not  interest  himself 
in  any  thing;  every  sensible  idea  is  remote  from  him. 
Those  branches  so  agreeably  disposed  by  nature,  beau- 
tiful foliage,  the  bright  colour  which  enlivens  one  part 
of  the  wood,  the  darker  green  which  gives  a  melancho- 
ly shade  to  another ;  these  things  are  nothing  to  him ; 
he  pays  them  no  attention;  the  number  of  strokes  of  his 
axe  required  to  fell  a  tree,  fills  all  his  thoughts.  He 
never  planted;  he  knows  not  its  pleasures.  A  tree  of 
his  own  planting  would  be  good  for  nothing  in  his 
estimation,  for  it  would  never  during  his  life  be  large 
enough  to  fell.  It  is  by  destruction  he  lives  ;  he  is  a  de- 
stroyer wherever  he  goes.  Thus,  every  place  is  equal- 
ly good  in  his  eyes ;  he  has  no  attachment  to  the  spot 
on  which  he  has  spent  his  labour,  for  his  labour  is  only 
fatigue,  and  unconnected  with  any  idea  of  pleasure. 
In  me  effects  of  his  toil  he  has  not  witnessed  those  gra- 
dual increases  of  growth  so  captivating  to  the  planter ; 
he  regards  not  the  destination  of  his  productions;  he 
knows  not  the  charm  of  new  attempts ;  and  if,  in  quit- 
ting the  abode  of  many  years,  he  does  not  by  chance 
forget  his  axe,  he  leaves  no  regret  behind  him. 

The  vocation  of  an  American  fisherman  begets  an 
apathy  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  wood-cutter.  His 
affections,  his  interest,  his  life,  are  on  the  side  of  that 
society,  to  which  it  is  thought  he  belongs.  But  it  would 
be  a  prejudice  to  suppose  him  a  useful  member.  For 
we  must  not  compare  these  fishermen  to  those  of  Eu- 
rope, and  think  that  the  fisheries  here  are,  like  them,  a 
nursery  for  seamen.  In  America,  with  the  exception  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Nantucket,  who  fish  for  whales,  fish- 
ing is  an  idle  employment!  Two  leagues  from  the 
coast,  when  they  have  no  dread  of  foul  weather;  a  sin- 
gle mile,  when  the  weather  is  uncertain;  is  the  sum  of 
the  courage  which  they  display ;  and  the  line  is  the  only 
instrument  of  which  tney  know  the  practical  use.  Thus 
their  knowledge  is  but  a  trifling  trick  ;  and  their  action, 
which  consists  in  constantly  hanging  one  arm  over  the 
side  of  the  boat,  is  little  short  of  idleness.  They  are 
attached  to  no  place:  their  only  connexion  with  the 


384  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

land,  is  by  means  of  a  wretched  house  which  they  in- 
habit. The  sea  affords  them  nourishment ;  and  a  few 
cod-fish,  more  or  less  determine  their  country.  If  their 
nnmber  seems  to  diminish  in  any  particular  quarter, 
they  emigrate  in  search  of  another  ^country,  where  they 
are  more  abundant.  The  remark,  that  fishing  is  a  sort 
of  agriculture,  is  not  solid;  all  the  qualities  and  virtues 
attached  to  agriculture,  are  wanting  in  him  who  lives  by 
fishing.  Agriculture  produces  a  patriot,  in  the  truest 
acceptation  of  the  word ;  fishing  can  only  form  a  cos- 
mopolite. 

oo  that  it  is  not  only  by  reason  of  their  origin,  lan- 
guage, and  interest,  the  Americans  so  constantly  find 
themselves  to  be  Englishmen;  an  observation  which 
applies  more  especially  to  the  cities.  When  one  looks 
upon  the  people  wandering  among  the  woods,  upon  the 
shores  of  the  sea,  and  by  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  the 
general  observation  is  strengthened  with  regard  to 
them,  by  that  indolence,  and  want  of  native  character, 
which  renders  this  class  of  Americans  more  ready  to 
receive  and  preserve  a  foreign  impression.  Doubtless, 
this  will  grow  weaker,  and  altogether  disappear,  when 
the  constantly  increasing  population  shall,  by  the  culture 
of  so  many  desert  lands,  have  brought  the  inhabitants 
nearer  together.  As  for  the  other  causes,  they  have 
taken  such  deep  root,  that  it  would  require  a  French 
establishment  in  the  United  States,  to  successfully  coun- 
teract their  ascendency.  Undoubtedly,  such  a  political 
project  should  not  be  overlooked  by  the  government  of 
France.  No  confutation  of  such  positions  can  be  neces- 
sary. 

M.  Talleyrand,  however,  has  discovered  his  usual  sa- 
gacity in  tracing  the  settlement  of  colonies,  and  the  sour- 
ces of  their  population,  when  he  says,  the  different 
causes  which  gave  rise  to  colonial  establishments,  have 
been  seldom  pure.  Thus,  ambition  and  the  ardour  of 
conquests  carried  the  first  colonies  of  the  Phoenicians 
and  Egyptians  into  Greece;  violence,  that  of  the  Tyri- 
ans  to  Carthage ;  the  misfortunes  of  war,  that  of  the 
fugitive  Trojans  to  Italy;  commerce,  and  the  love  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

riches,  those  of  the  Carthaginians  to  the  isles  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  coasts  of  Spain  and  Africa ;  ne- 
cessity, those  of  the  Athenians  into  Asia  Minor,  the  peo- 
ple becoming  too  numerous  for  their  limited  and  barren 
territory ;  prudence,  that  of  the  Lacedemonians  to  Ta- 
rentum,  to  deliver  themselves  from  some  turbulent  citi- 
zens ;  and  urgent  policy,  the  numerous  small  and  unim- 
portant colonies  of  the  Romans,  who  showed  their  wis- 
dom in  giving  up  to  their  colonists  a  portion  of  the  con- 
quered countries ;  because  they  appeased  the  people, 
who  incessantly  demanded  a  new  division  of  the  land, 
and  because  they  thus  formed  of  the  disconted  them- 
selves, a  sure  guard  in  the  countries  which  they  had 
subdued.  The  ardour  for  plunder,  and  the  fury  of  war, 
much  more  than  the  excess  of  population,  sent  the  co- 
lonies, or  rather  irruptions  of  the  people  of  the  north 
into  the  Roman  empire ;  and  a  romantic  piety,  greedy 
of  conquest,  those  of  the  European  croisaders  into  Asia. 

After  the  discovery  of  America,  the  folly,  injustice, 
and  avarice  of  individuals  thirsting  after  gold,  threw 
them  upon  the  first  countries  to  which  their  barks  con- 
veyed them.  The  more  rapacious  they  were,  the  more 
they  separated ;  they  wished  not  to  cultivate,  but  to  lay 
waste.  Those,  indeed,  were  not  true  colonists.  Some 
time  afterward,  religious  dissentions  gave  birth  to  more 
regular  establishments;  thus  the  puritans  took  refuge 
in  the  north  of  America;  the  English  catholics  in  Ma- 
ryland; the  quakers  in  Pennsylvania;  whence  Dr. Smith 
concludes,  that  the  vices,  not  the  wisdom  of  European 
governments,  peopled  the  new  world.  Other  great 
emigrations  likewise,  were  owing  to  a  gloomy  policy, 
falsely  called  religious.  Thus  Spain  rejected  the  moors 
from  her  bosom;  France  the  Protestants;  almost  all 
governments,  the  Jews:  and  every  where  the  error, 
which  had  dictated  such  deplorable  counsels,  was  recog- 
nized too  late.  They  had  discontented  subjects,  and 
they  made  them  enemies  who  might  have  served,  but 
were  forced  to  injure,  their  country. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  consist  of  Eu- 
ropeans and  their  descendants,  African  negroes  and 

49 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

their  descendants,  and  the  Aboriginal  Indians. — Of 
which  last  it  is  not  intended  to  treat,  as  they  are  verging 
rapidly  to  extinction,  under  the  pressure  of  American 
encroachment;  which  Mr.  Monroe,  in  his  Message  of 
the  2d  of  December,  1817,  maintains  to  be  quite  pro- 
per, and  says,  "  The  hunter  state  can  exist  only  in  the 
vast,  uncultivated  desert.  It  yields  to  the  more  dense 
and  compact  form,  and  greater  force  of  civilized  popu- 
lation ;  and,  of  right,  it  ought  to  yield,  for  the  earth  was 
given  to  mankind,  to  support  the  greatest  number  of 
which  it  is  capable,  and  no  tribe  or  people  have  a  right 
to  withhold  from  the  wants  of  others  more  than  is  ne- 
cessary for  their  own  support  and  comfort." 

The  great  mass  of  our  people  is  of  English  origin, 
and  not  made  up,  originally,  of  convicts,  mendicants, 
and  vagabonds,  according  to  the  vulgar,  but  erroneous 
opinion.  The  first  settlers  in  this  country  were,  for 
the  most  part,  of  respectable  families  and  good  charac- 
ter, who  came  hither  under  the  guidance  of  intelligent 
and  distinguished  leaders,  and  laid  the  basis  of  an  in- 
numerable people  in  the  best  principles  and  habits  of 
religious  toleration,  political  independence,  and  social 
yirtue.  These  early  colonists  fled  from  civil  and  reli- 
gious persecution  in  their  native  country,  to  find  an 
asylum  in  this  western  world ;  and  have  given  birth  to 
a  people,  who  still  retain  the  puritanical  precision,  the 
stern  republicanism,  and  the  daring  intrepidity  of  their 
ancestors. .  New-England  was  settled  altogether  by 
Englishmen,  except  an  Irish  colony  in  the  hilly  part  of 
one  county  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  few  Scottish  and 
Irish  settlements  in  New-Hampshire.  With  these  ex- 
ceptions, the  New-England  population  is,  at  this  hour, 
entirely  of  English  origin.  The  same  source  also  sup- 
plies a  great  majority  of  the  people  in  the  middle,  and 
a  still  larger  proportion  in  the  southern  States.  The 
Germans  make  about  a  fourth  of  the  population  of 
Pennsylvania  and  a  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  New-York 
and  New-Jersey.  They  are,  however,  fast  yielding 
their  language,  habits,  and  customs  to  the  predominance 
of  the  English.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Dutch 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  337 

settled  in  New-York,  New-Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania. 
A  few  French  Protestants  settled  at  New  Rochelle  and 
Staten-Island,  in  the  State  of  New- York,  and  in  Charles- 
ton, South-Carolina.  The  Irish  emigrants  are  found 
chiefly  in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland ;  and  many  are 
scattered  over  New-York,  New-Jersey,  Kentucky,  and 
some  other  States.  Those  who  are  Papists,  from  the 
middle  and  south  of  Ireland,  compose  the  bulk  of  the 
day  labourers  in  our  large  cities;  the  Protestants  from 
the  north  of  Ireland,  generally  become  agriculturists  in 
the  interior  of  the  country. 

The  Scottish,  who  are  generally  intelligent,  indus- 
trious, good  citizens,  have  settlements  in  New-Hamp- 
shire, New-York,  New-Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and 
North-Carolina.  Some  Swedes  are  found  in  New- 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland;  and  some  Swiss 
are  settled  in  the  State  of  Indiana.  Some  small  Welsh 
settlements  have  been  made  in  Pennsylvania  and  New- 
York.  The  new  States,  which  are  continually  rising, 
like  exhalations  from  the  earth,  in  the  western  country, 
and  denoting  a  growth  of  population,  rapid  and  gigan- 
tic, beyond  all  parallel  in  the  history  of  nations,  are 
supplied  with  settlers  chiefly  from  the  annual  surplus  of 
New-England,  which  indeed  has  been,  for  many  years, 
the  officina  gentium  to  the  States  of  New- York,  Ohio, 
Kentucky,  and  all  the  interminable  regions  of  the  west. 

The  accessions  from  foreign  countries  make  but  a 
small  proportion  of  the  aggregate  of  American  popu- 
lation. From  1785  to  1815,  the  annual  importation  of 
foreigners  into  the  United  States  did  not  exceed  five 
thousand.  Since  that  period  the  European  migrations 
hither  have  been  more  abundant.  Of  these,  the  French, 
in  great  numbers,  direct  their  steps  to  the  Alabama 
territory ;  and  the  Irish  are  endeavouring,  under  the 
auspices  of  Mr.  Emrnet,  of  New-York,  to  get  up  an 
Hibernian  colony  in  the  Illinois  country.  Many  01  our 
imported  foreigners  are  the  lees  and  dregs,  the  refuse, 
the  vilest  specimens  of  Irish  and  English  population, 
who  reside  chiefly  in  the  large  cities  on  our  seaboard, 
and  show  forth  their  patriotism  by  incessantly  vilifying 


388  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UMTED  STATES. 

all  the  institutions  of  their  native  country,  and  by  vio- 
lating the  laws  of  their  adopted  nation.  The  propor- 
tion of  these  imported  politicians,  however,  to  the  whole 
community,  is  not  great.  The  New-England  States, 
throughout,  are  unpolluted  with  the  mixture  of  foreign 
population  ;  and  our  yeomanry,  generally,  all  over  the 
Union,  are  native  Americans. 

Full  one  million  seven  hundred  thousand  negroes  are 
held  as  slaves  in  the  United  States,  which  also  contain 
upwards  of  two  hundred  thousand  -free  people  of  colour. 
Both  these  classes,  however,  acquire  occasionally  an  ad- 
mixture of  the  blood  of  the  white  portion  of  oar  popula- 
tion, and  the  mestizos  are  gaining  fast  in  number  upon 
the  blacks.  The  great  body  of  American  negroes  are 
to  be  found  in  our  Southern  States. 

The  experience  of  all  history  proves,  that  the  struc- 
ture of  society  in  slave-holding  countries,  is  unfavourable 
to  internal  security  and  peace  at  all  times;  and  still 
more  so  to  security  and  strength  in  the  season  of  foreign 
warfare.  Indeed,  all  moral  evil  possesses  a  dreadful 
power  of  perpetuating  and  augmenting  its  own  atrocity; 
whence,  the  evil  of  slavery  once  established,  scarcely 
admits  of  remedy ;  because  the  emancipation  of  slaves 
in  large  masses,  is  nearly,  if  not  quite  impracticable ;  the 
difference  between  the  habits  of  a  slave  and  those  of  a 
free  citizen  being  wide  as  the  poles  asunder.  A  slave 
is  ignorant  of  the  very  elements  of  industry,  which  is  the 
basis  of  all  social  prosperity.  While  in  bondage  he 
only  obeys  the  impulse  of  another's  will,  he  is  ac- 
tuated by  no  other  motive  than  the  dread  of  the  lash; 
whereas  when  made  free,  he  must  think,  will,  plan,  pro- 
vide for  himself  and  family,  and  perform  all  the  duties 
of  a  citizen.  It  is  necessary  to  make  a  slave  a  man,  an 
animal  capable  of  thought  and  reflection,  before  he  is 
made  a  free  man.  The  slave,  recently  liberated,  has 
experienced  only  the  most  laborious  and  irksome  of  the 
occupations  of  a  citizen,  and  not  having  learned  any 
forecast,  is  unwilling  to  toil  when  free.  The  negroes 
of  St.  Domingo  at  hrst  knew  only  the  two  extremes  of 
slavery  and  rebellion ;  afterward  they  experienced  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  3TATES.  339 

blessings  of  military  despotism,  under  the  pressure  of 
which,  they  at  this  hour  bend  and  groan ;  and  it  is  not 
easy  to  determine  from  which  of  these  three  miserable 
states,  the  transition  to  the  social  and  orderly  rank  of  a 
free  citizen  is  most  difficult. 

Besides,  our  slaves  are  in  a  very  uncivilized  state ; 
and,  as  is  peculiarly  exemplified  in  our  aboriginal  In- 
dians, the  industry  of  a  savage,  his  habits  of  voluntary 
obedience,  his  perception  of  political  rights,  his  capacity 
of  becoming  the  citizen  of  a  regular  community,  is  still 
lower  than  that  of  a  mere  slave.  He  is  quite  ignorant 
of  the  necessity  of  voluntary  exertion  and  peaceable 
submission,  which  forms  the  strongest  cement  of  civil- 
ized society.  Savages  know  no  medium  between  the 
extremes  of  unlimited  servility  and  uncontrolled  despot- 
ism ;  among  them  it  is  the  lot  of  the  slave  to  obey  and 
toil,  the  privilege  of  the  master  to  command  and  be 
idle.  This  is  manifested  all  over  the  coast  of  Africa, 
where  the  sable  chiefs  exercise  absolute  sway  over 
their  wretched  subjects,  or  slaves.  We  are  not,  there- 
fore, to  expect,  that  a  body  of  emancipated  slaves, 
whether  emancipated  by  manumission  or  rebellion,  can  be 
converted  into  a  community  of  free  citizens,  living  under 
a  regular  government  and  equitable  laws.  Much  in- 
struction on  this  point,  may  be  derived  from  a  careful 
perusal  of  Mr.  Brougham's  very  able  and  learned  work 
on  "  Colonial  Policy ;"  and  Sir  James  Lucas  Yeo's  re- 
cent letter  to  Mr.  Croker  contains  some  very  interest- 
ing information  respecting  the  condition  and  conduct  of 
the  free  negro  colony  at  Sierra  Leone. 

The  experience  of  St.  Domingo,  for  nearly  twenty- 
five  years  past,  proves  that  revolted  slaves  are  incapa- 
ble of  receiving  and  enjoying  the  blessings  of  free 
institutions ;  for  they  have  only  exchanged  the  horrors 
of  civil  bondage  for  those  of  military  despotism.  And 
the  emancipated  negroes  of  Massachusetts  prove,  that 
such  an  order  of  beings  have  not  the  capacity  of  avail- 
ing themselves  of  the  benefits  of  civil  liberty.  For  in 
that  State,  where  slavery  is  abolished  by  law,  and  which 
consequently,  opens  an  asylum  to  fugitive  slaves  from 


X 

390  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

neighbouring  States,  the  negroes  do  not  keep  up  their 
stock  of  population,  by  the  help  both  of  native  breed- 
ing and  runaway  importation ;  so  improvident,  so  help- 
less, so  wanting  in  all  those  habits  of  steady  and  useful 
industry,  which  are  essentially  necessary  to  enable  the 
citizens  of  a  free  community  to  obtain  a  competent  sup- 
port for  themselves  and  a  growing  family,  have  they 
been  rendered  by  a  long  continuance  of  slavery,  either 
in  their  own  persons,  or  in  those  of  their  immediate  pro- 
genitors ;  and  by  their  almost  total  destitution,  even  of 
the  rudest  elements'  of  civilization  and  culture. 

This  incapacity  for  receiving  and  profiting  by  the 
precious  boon  of  liberty,  would  be  still  more  visible  in 
the  event  of  emancipating  the  slaves  of  our  southern 
States ;  because  their  negroes  are  much  more  numerous, 
and  have  always  been  more  harshly  treated,  than  those 
of  Massachusetts !  For  the  peculiar  situation  of  the 
negroes  under  such  circumstances,  would  tend  very  lit- 
tle to  promote  their  contentment,  or  peaceable  demean- 
or, or  regular  industry.  They  would  form  the  lowest 
part  of  the  community,  destitute  of  property,  and  there- 
fore unable  to  enjoy  some  of  the  most  essential  political 
privileges,  and  toiling  for  a  bare  subsistence.  It  is  to  be 
feared,  therefore,  that  our  southern  negroes,  while  la- 
bouring under  the  double  curse  of  slavery  and  want  of 
civilization,  can  only  be  kept  in  subjection  by  their  white 
masters,  so  long  as  they  are  kept  in  chains.  The  day 
that  breaks  the  fetters  of  a  slave,  destroys  the  authority, 
and  endangers  the  security  of  his  lord.  Whilst  me 
slave-holding  system  exists,  the  division  of  the  negroes, 
the  vigilance  of  the  overseer,  the  fear  of  the  driver's 
lash,  and  the  horrible  torments  inflicted  upon  servile  con- 
tumacy, may  prevent  the  blacks  from  uniting  and  extir- 
pating their  masters.  Although  Mr.  John  Randolph, 
on  the  floor  of  Congress,  declared,  that  even  now,  when- 
ever the  midnight  bell  tolls  the  alarm  of  fire  in  any  of 
the  towns  or  cities  of  Virginia,  every  mother  clasps  her 
infant  to  her  bosom,  in  agonizing  expectation,  that  the 
tocsin  is  sounding  the  cry  of  a  general  negro  insurrec- 
tion j  and  warning  the  devoted  victims  of  the  near  ap- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  39  j 

proach  of  indiscriminate  pillage,  rape,  murder,  and  con- 
flagration. 

Thus  the  modern  system  of  negro  slavery,  as  it  pre- 
vails in  the  European  colonies,  and  in  this  free  republic, 
is  one  entire  circle  of  evil.  It  not  only  creates  an  enor- 
mous mass  of  physical  suffering  and  moral  guilt,  during 
the  continuance  of  the  negroes  in  the  fetters  of  personal 
bondage ;  but  also,  by  brutalizing  their  bodies,  by  dark- 
ening their  understanding,  by  corrupting  their  hearts,  it 
incapacitates  them  for  receiving  and  using  the  privileges 
and  blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty;  whence  mis 
system,  as  it  now  flourishes  among  nations  calling  them- 
selves Christian,  provides,  by  the  very  atrocity  and  vast 
aggregate  amount  of  its  own  guilt,  for  its  own  frightful 
perpetuity. 

In  our  southern  States,  the  slaves  are  not  often  allowed 
to  profit  by  religious  instruction ;  their  masters  having 
an  absolute  property  in  their  bodies,  are  apt  to  consider 
their  souls  as  thrown  into  the  bargain,  and  seldom  suffer 
the  mild  light  of  revelation  to  irradiate  the  gloom  of 
their  desolate  condition.  The^re*  blacks  which  swarm 
in  our  northern  and  middle  States,  are  generally  idle, 
vitious,  and  profligate,  with  very  little  sense  of  moral 
obligation  to  deter  them  from  lying,  thieving,  and  still 
more  atrocious  crimes.  For  some  winters  past,  a  gang 
of  free  blacks  used  to  amuse  themselves  in  the  city  of 
New-York,  by  setting  fire  to  whole  rows  of  houses,  for 
the  purpose  of  pilfering  amidst  the  confusion  and  horror 
of  the  flames.  In  the  winter  of  1816-17  a  negro  was 
hanged  for  this  crime,  and  fires  have  been  proportionally- 
scarce  in  New- York  ever  since.  A  hint  this,  which 
might  be  rendered  profitable,  if  our  State  legislature 
would  strengthen  the  criminal  code,  and  recommend  our 
house-breakers,  highway-robbers,  and  forgers,  to  the  gal- 
lows, instead  of  providing  them  with  a  comfortable  do- 
micile in  the  state-prison  for  a  seasoA,  and  then  letting 
them  out  to  renew  their  depredations  upon  the  public. 

Of  late,  however,  some  philanthropists,  among  whom 
the  Friends  or  Quakers  (as  they  always  do  in  every 
work  of  benevolence  and  usefulness,)  bear  a  distinguish- 


392  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ed  part,  have  endeavoured  to  meliorate  the  moral  con- 
dition of  the  free  blacks  in  the  Northern  and  Middle 
States.  In  consequence  of  which,  African  schools  and 
churches  have  risen  up,  and  black  teachers  and  preach- 
ers have  shown  themselves  as  competent  to  perform 
their  important  functions  as  their  white  brethren.  Doubt- 
less, the  only  possible  means  of  rendering  these  negroes 
honest,  industrious,  and  provident,  are  to  be  found  in 
the  general  diffusion  of  religious  and  moral  instruction 
among  them.  And  it  is  certainly  high  time  to  refute,  bj 
practical  proof,  the  assertion  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his 
Notes  on  Virginia,  that  the  negroes  are  a  race  of  animals 
inferior  to  man.  A  few  ages  of  civil  liberty  and  gene- 
ral education,  would  silence  this  cavil  of  infidelity 
against  the  Scriptural  doctrine,  that  God  made  of  one 
blood  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

As  religion  is  the  great  basis  of  national  character,  it 
is  necessary  to  examine  its  effects  in  relation  to  the  Uni- 
ted States.  In  the  "  Resources  of  the  British  Empire," 
beginning  at  page  377,  are  adduced  reasons  to  show 
the  intimate  connexion  between  the  piety  and  prosperi- 
ty of  nations,  and  conversely;  the  necessity  and  impor- 
tance of  national,  as  contradistinguished  from  personal, 
religion,  that  is  to  say,  the  acknowledgment  of  God,  as 
the  Governor  of  the  world,  by  the  state  or  govern- 
ment, as  the  representative  of  the  community ;  and  the 
inestimable  benefits  resulting  from  a  general  diffusion  of 
individual  or  personal  religion. 

Indeed,  the  voice  of  all  history,  which  is  emphatically 
the  voice  of  philosophy  speaking  by  example,  warns  us, 
that  every  nation  which  has  broken  asunder  the  bonds 
of  religion,  whether  founded  on  the  light  of  natural  con- 
science, inherent  in  the  heart  of  every  man,  or  upon  the 
clearer  lijjht  of  Revelation  from  Heaven,  has  invariably 
given  itself  up  to  every  species  of  profligacv ;  untying 
all  the  ligaments  of  social  virtue,  and  stifling  in  lust  and 
blood  every  dear  relation,  every  domestic  chanty  of  pa- 
rental, conjugal,  and  filial  duty.  When  ancient  Persia 
departed  from  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  the  religious 
institutions  of  the  elder  Cyrus,  she  fell  headlong  into  all 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  393 

the  corruptions  of  effeminate  immorality;  and  sunk  in 
the  dastardly  enervation  of  universal  vice,  yielded  her 
extended  empire  to  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  conqueror. 
When  the  ancient  Republics  of  Greece  exchanged  the 
simple  maxims  of  their  pristine  religion  for  the  general 
prevalence  of  philosophical  unbelief,  they  degenerated 
into  universal  sensualism ;  and  all  classes  of  the  com- 
manity,  setting  themselves  in  open  sale  to  the  highest 
bidder,  followed  their  clamorous  and  ignorant  dema- 
gogues throughout  all  the  gradations  of  domestic  anar- 
chy, weakness,  and  corruption,  into  the  sepulchral  sleep 
of  external  despotism.  When  Rome,  despising  the  re- 
ligious reverence  of  her  republican  ancestors,  ceased  to 
regard  the  obligations  of  an  oath,  and  cultivating  gene- 
rally the  atheistic  materialism  of  her  infidel  philosophers, 
practised  with  unblushing  impudence  every  crime  of 
violence  and  fraud,  she  fell  from  her  high  estate  of  na- 
tional glory,  into  the  despicable  meanness  of  unrestrain- 
ed democracy ;  whence,  by  an  easy,  quick,  and  natural 
transition,  she  passed  into  the  kindred  bondage  of  sin- 
gle military  tyranny ;  and  finally  bowed  her  imperial 
head  beneath  the  sterner  morality  and  superior  prowess 
of  the  Barbarians  of  the  North. 

In  later  times,  Continental  Europe  has  read  a  memora- 
ble lesson  to  all  nations  and  ages,  of  the  inevitable  ruin 
attached  to  a  wilful  departure  from  the  doctrines  and 
duties  of  Heaven's  last  best  gift  to  man,  revealed  religion. 
During  the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
kings  and  princes,  the  nobles  and  ambassadors,  the  po- 
liticians, writers,  and  people  of  almost  every  nation  on 
the  European  continent,  strove  in  wretched  rivalry  for  a 
vile  pre-eminence  in  the  guilt  of  rejecting  the  Scriptures 
of  God,  and  calumniating  the  religion  of  Christ.  As  the 
necessary  consequence  of  this  universal  speculative  un- 
belief, as  universal  a  deluge  of  immorality,  baseness,  and 
corruption,  private  and  public,  national  as  well  as  indi- 
vidual, flooded  their  foul  and  feculent  streams  of  pollu- 
tion over  all  the  surface  of  Continental  Europe.  And 
what  has  been  the  great  practical  commentary  which 
Jehovah  himself  has  given  upon  the  impious  text  of  this 

f)0 


394  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

new  philosophy  ?  For  the  space  of  five -and- twenty  years 
every  nominally  Christian  nation  on  the  European  con- 
tinent, has  been  wasted  by  fire,  and  sword,  and  pesti- 
lence ;  by  famine,  and  internal  broil,  and  foreign  inva- 
sion ;  not  a  single  country  within  the  verge  of  Conti- 
nental European  Christendom,  has  escaped  the  terrible 
lustration  of  human  blood. 

And  have  these  United  States  no  cause  of  similar 
alarm  ?  Cannot  they  read  the  same  handwriting  upon 
the  wall,  which  declared  to  the  kindred  nations  of  Eu- 
rope, that  they  had  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and 
were  found  wanting  ?  When  the  purer  light  of  Chris- 
tianity Js  corrupted  and  darkened  in  the  Eastern  sec- 
tion of.  our  Union,  arid  the  Revelation  of  God  too  gene- 
rally rejected  in  the  Southern  and  Western  extremities 
of  the  Commonwealth,  have  we  any  right  to  expect  that 
this  country  will  escape  those  national  visitations,  which 
the  European  Continent  has  so  abundantly  reaped  in  a 
full  hayvest  of  agony  and  ruin?  The  late  President 
D wight  declared,  in  1812,  that  there  were  three  millions 
of  souls  in  the  United  States,  entirely  destitute  of  all 
religious  ordinances  and  worship.  It  is  also  asserted, 
by  good  authority,  that  in  the  southern  and  western 
States  societies  exist,  built  on  the  model  of  the  Transal- 
pine clubs  in  Italy,  and  the  Atheistic  assemblies  of 
France  and  Germany,  and,  like  them,  incessantly  la- 
bouring, to  root  out  every  vestige  of  Christianity.  So 
that,  in  the  lapse  of  a  few  years,  we  are  in  danger  of 
being  overrun  with  unbaptized  infidels,  the  most  atro- 
cious and  remorseless  banditti  that  infest  and  desolate 
human  society. 

Indeed,  many  serious  people  doubt  the  permanence 
of  the  Federal  Constitution,  because  in  that  national 
compact  there  is  no  reference  to  the  Providence  of  God: 
"  We  the  people"  being  the  constitutional  substitute  of  Je- 
hovah. Of  national  religion  we  have  not  much  to  boast ; 
a  few  of  our  State  governments,  particularly  in  New- 
England,  and  recently  in  New-York,  do  acknowledge 
God  as  the  governor  among  the  nations,  and  occasion- 
ally recommend  (for  they  have  no  power  to  appoint) 


RESOURCES  OF  ,THE  UNITED  STATES.  395 

clays  to  be  set  apart  for  general  fasting,  and  prayer,  and 
thanksgiving.  J3ut  the  greater  number  of  the  States 
declare  it  to  be  unconstitutional  to  refer  to  the  Provi- 
dence of  God  in  any  of  their  public  acts ;  and  Virginia 
carries  this  doctrine  so  far,  as  not  to  allow  any  Chaplain 
to  officiate  in  her  State  legislature ;  giving  as  a  reason, 
by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  her  representatives,  in 
December,  1817,  that  the  Constitution  permits  no  one 
religious  sect  to  have  preference  to  any  other ;  and 
therefore,  as  a  Chaplain  must  belong  to  some  sect,  it 
would  be  unconstitutional  for  the  Virginian  legislators 
to  listen  to  his  preaching  or  prayers. 

In  the  winter  of  1814-15,  the  legislature  of  Louisiana 
rejected  by  an  immense  majority,  a  bill  "  For  the  bet- 
ter observance  of  the  Sabbath;  for  punishing  the  crime 
of  sodomy ;  for  preventing  the  defacing  of  the  Church- 
yards ;  for  shutting  the  theatres  and  stores  an  Sunday  ; 
and  for  other  purposes."  The  chief  opposer  of  the 
bill  declaring,  on  the  legislative  floor,  "  that  such  per- 
secuting intolerance  might  well  suit  the  New-England 
puritans,  who  were  descended  from  the  bigoted  fana- 
tics of  old  England,  who  were  great  readers  of  the  Bi- 
ble, and,  consequently,  ignorant,  prejudiced,  cold-blooded, 
false,  and  cruel ;  but  could  never  be  fastened  on  the 
more  enlightened,  liberal,  and  philosophical  inhabitants 
of  Louisiana,  the  descendants  of  Frenchmen." 

In  this  respect  the  Louisianians  have  shown  their 
kindred  to  the  regenerated  citizens  of  modern  France, 
who  have  compelled  Louis  the  eighteenth  to  repeal  his 
decree  for  enforcing  a  decent  respect  to  the  Sabbath; 
and  the  Sunday  now  is,  as  it  was  during  the  revolution, 
a  day  of  business,  or  pleasure,  without  any  regard  or 
reference  to  the  divine  founder  of  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation. 

It  was  reserved  for  the  illumined  sages  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  of  the  Christian  era  to  discover,  that 
religion  was  the  cause  of  all  the  political  evils  which 
deform  human  society.  The  Egyptian,  Persian,  Gre- 
cian, and  Roman  legislators  all  deemed  it  necessary  to 
lay  the  foundation  of  their  municipal  codes  upon  the 


396  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

broad  basis  of  religious  sanction.  Not  a  single  philoso- 
pher, statesman,  or  sovereign  is  to  be  found  in  all  the 
records  of  heathen  antiquity,  who  ever  for  a  moment 
doubted  that  some  higher  bond  of  obligation,  than  can 
possibly  be  derived  from  the  exterior  ligaments  of  hu- 
man law,  is  indispensable  to  connect  together  communi- 
ties of  men  in  firm  and  lasting  ties.  They  knew  full 
well,  that  without  a  direct  appeal  to  the  tribunal  of 
natural  conscience,  without  the  religious  obligation  of 
an  oath,  without  the  internal  safeguard  of  an  habitual 
•watch  over  the  thoughts  of  the  heart,  regulating  an 
innumerable  multitude  of  words  and  deeds,  which  no 
human  laws  can  touch,  but  which,  according  to  their 
good  or  evil  direction,  either  adorn  or  dishonour  the 
aggregate  of  life,  no  community  of  men  can  long  flourish 
in  personal  virtue,  or  national  prosperity.  What  human 
laws  can  regulate  the  intercourse  of  benevolence  and 
gratitude  between  the  rich  and  poor,  or  measure  out 
the  affection  that  ought  to  be  shown  to  a  parent,  wife, 
or  child  ?  Or  prescribe  the  limits  of  friendship,  or  gra- 
duate the  scale  of  punishment  to  the  numberless  tres- 
passes against  the  duties  of  affection  and  charity?  In 
all  these,  and  countless  other  instances,  religion  alone 
can  bind  the  obligation  and  measure  of  duty  upon  the 
heart.  Where  the  authority  and  power  of  man  reach 
not,  the  arm  of  God  alone  can  guide  the  footsteps  of 
human  conduct. 

Revolutionary  France  possesses  the  execrable  honour 
of  having  first  reduced  individual  and  national  atheism 
to  a  regular  system.  In  the  beginning  of  the  1 8th  cen- 
tury, Mr.  Bayle,  who  had  escaped  from  the  fangs  of 
the  Doctors  of  the  Sorbonne,  at  Paris,  into  the  marshes 
of  Holland,  undertook  to  teach  Europe  that  a  nation  of 
atheists  must,  infallibly,  be  better  governed  .than  a  coun- 
try of  Christians  ;  because,  being  freed  from  all  the 
restraints  of  religious  prejudice,  they  would  be  at  liberty 
to  follow  the  pure  impulses  of  a  virtuous  and  unimpeded 
nature.  Bishop  Warburton,  in  his  Divine  Legation, 
and  President  Montesquieu,  in  his  Esprit  des  Loix.  both 
laboured,  in  opposition  to  Bayle's  doctrine,  to  prove, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


397 


that  a  society  of  atheists  could  not  be  held  together,  for 
want  of  a  bond  of  mutual  obligation  alike  binding  upon 
all.     For  an  atheist,  not  allowing  the  authority  of  any 
higher  tribunal  than  his  own  estimate  of  his  own  self-in- 
terest, will  break  any  human  law,  whenever,  according 
to  his  own  calculations,  it  would  be  advantageous  to  him; 
and  provided  also  he  could  elude  personal  punishment. 
But  the  disciples  of  Bayle,  the  metaphysical  and  poli- 
tical doctors  of  the  French  revolution,  Helvetius,  Kay- 
nal,  D'AIembert,  Condorcet,  Diderot,  and  all  the  rest  of 
those  brilliant  banditti,  who  set  fire  to  the  four  corners 
of  the  world ;  improving  on  their  master's  hint,  united 
all  the   force  of  perverted  genius,  misapplied  learning, 
ill-directed  science,  dazzling  declamation,  glittering  wit, 
and  habitual  sophistry,  in  order  to  persuade  men,  that 
all  the  political  evils  which  disfigure  the  earth,  flowed 
immediately   from   the  existence  and   support   of  the 
Christian  religion;  and  that  mankind  could  not  fail  of 
enjoying  uninterrupted  beatitude,  if  they  would   only 
eradicate  every  vestige  of  Christianity  from  the  human 
heart  and  conduct. 

Revolutionary  France  tried  the  grand  experiment ;  she 
abolished  Christianity,  declared  death  to  be  an  eternal 
sleep,  passed  a  decree  denouncing  terrible  vengeance 
against  all  who  believed  in  the  existence  of  a  God,  wor- 
shipped the  perfection  of  human  reason  in  the  person 
of  a  prostitute,  and  placed  her  on  that  same  altar,  which 
had  been  reared  by  the  hand  of  adoration  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  himself;  pronounced  marriage  an  unholy 
monopoly,  and  stigmatized  all  the   feelings  and  affec- 
tions of  parents,  brethren,  and  children,  as  vulgar  and 
unphilosophical  prejudices.     From  July  1792,  to  March 
1796,  it  was  death  by  law  in  France,  for  any  one  to 
pronounce  the  name  of  God  or  Christ,  except  in  exe- 
cration; and  during   this   period,  many   thousands  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  were  actually  murdered  by 
law,  for  the  crime  of  professing  themselves  to  be  Chris- 
tians.    Acting  upon  these  enlightened  views,  and  ori- 
ginal discoveries,  the  French  nation  proceeded  to  mur- 
der their  lawful  sovereign,  to  butcher  their  ancient  no- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

bility  and  established  clergy ;  to  proclaim  and  enforce 
an  indiscriminate  pillage  of  all  public  and  private  pro- 
perty, to  bathe  their  hands  in  each  other's  life,  to  exalt 
a  midnight  assassin  to  an  imperial  throne,  to  cradle  the 
new-born  dynasty  of  an  upstart  ruffian  in  tears  and 
blood,  to  convert  all  France  into  one  universal  brothel, 
one  universal  slaughter-house. 

As  the  other  nations  of  Continental  Europe,  follow- 
ed with  too  fatal  a  facility,  the  footsteps  of  French 
illumination,  jacobin  and  atheistic  France,  finding  a 
bosom  friend  in  the  atheism  and  jacobinism  of  the  rest 
of  the  European  continent,  was  soon  enabled  by  the 
poison  of  fraud,  and  the  force  of  arms,  to  triumph  over 
all  the  religious,  moral,  and  social  establishments  of 
Christendom.  Thrones  were  overturned,  and  the 
altars  of  God  trampled  down  beneath  the  cloven  hoof 
of  impiety ;  the  rich  were  despoiled  of  their  posses- 
sions, and  all  the  people  in  one  undistinguished  mass, 
crushed  beneath  the  great'  'nether  millstone  of  an  op- 
pression unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  remorseless  tyran- 
ny. Nor  was  the  tide  of  Gallic  invasion  ever  rolled 
back,  nor  its  career  of  victory  checked,  until  the  prin- 
ces and  people  of  continental  Europe  had  been  lashed 
by  the  scorpion-whip  of  long  continued  calamity  and 
insult,  into  the  full  conviction  that  the  new  philosophy 
is  the  unerring  road  to  personal  and  national  ruin. 
Accordingly,  when  they  had  been  sufficiently  disciplin- 
ed in  the  severe,  but  salutary  school  of  suffering,  the 
European  nations,  from  the  north  and  from  the  south, 
from  the  east  and  from  the  west,  of  their  populous 
continent,  returned  to  the  good  old  way  of  reverence 
to  God,  integrity  towards  man,  and  high-hearted  loyalty 
to  their  native  land;  and  rallying  from  all  quarters 
under  the  banners  of  a  legitimate  patriotism,  routed  the 
hordes  of  Gallic  philosophy,  drove  them  back  confound- 
ed within  the  borders  of  their  own  dominions,  and  in 
the  heart  of  France  stifled  jacobinism  in  its  own  life's 
blood. 

At  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  the  greater  portion  of 
the  known  world  was  under  the  dominion  of  one  em- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  399 

pire.  Knowledge  and  civilization  had  reached  a  higher 
p,-int  of  excellence  than  at  any  preceding  period.  This 
g.:-fu>ral  and  excessive  intellectual  culture  was  accom- 
panied with  a  correspondingly  general  and  excessive 
immorality.  A  fact  in  itself  amounting  to  a  demonstra- 
tion, that  the  mere  improvement  of  the  mind  can  do 
nothing  towards  removing  or  amending  the  natural  de- 
pravity of  the  human  heart.  At  this  time  the  Greek 
and  Latin  languages  had  reached  their  summit  of  per- 
fection. They  divided  between  themselves  the  intel- 
lectual dominions  of  the  whole  empire-  The  Latin 
predominated  over  the  western,  the  Greek  over  the 
eastern  section  of  imperial  Rome.  The  ancient  dialects 
of  Italy,  the  languages  of  Africa,  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain, 
and  Pannonia,  had  all  retired  before  the  use  of  the  Ro- 
man tongue.  The  Greek  was  the  language  of  science 
and  literature,  the  Latin  that  of  all  public  transactions, 
laws,  ordinances,  and  institutions  of  government.  Well 
educated  men  were  alike  conversant  with  both.  All 
the  knowledge  then  afloat  in  the  world,  was  concentra- 
ted in  one  focus  of  brightness  by  the  best  writers  of 
Greece  and  Rome.  Art,  and  nature,  and  science,  were 
ransacked,  explored,  exhausted ;  to  furnish  the  poet 
with  splendid  imagery;  to  emblazon  the  eloquence  of 
the  orator,  to  sharpen  the  weapons  of  the  dialectician; 
to  point  the  sting  of  the  satynst ;  to  round  the  period 
of  the  philosopher ;  to  swell  the  pomp  of  learning. 

But  in  the  midst  of  all  this  blaze  of  intellectual  glory, 
•what  was  the  condition  of  the  human  heart  ?  The  heart 
of  man  was  at  this  time  darker  and  more  hideous  than 
the  sepulchre  of  death.  The  barriers  of  moral  decency 
were  broken  down;  every  crime,  and  every  abomi- 
nation, was  either  perpetrated,  or  tolerated;  public 
profligacy  and  private  vice  had  converted  the  whole 
earth  into  one  vast  charnel-house  of  atrocity  and  horror. 
All  the  profane  historians  and  annalists  of  that  period, 
bear  testimony  to  the  charges  against  the  heathen. 
World,  which  the  holy  Spirit  of  God  puts  into  the  mouth 
of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 


400  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Such  was  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  moral  world, 
when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arose  with  healing  in 
his  wings,  and  the  darkest  recesses  of  the  human  heart 
were  illumined  with  the  light  of  life.  Wherever  Chris- 
tianity has  prevailed  in  its  purity,  and  precisely  in  pro- 
portion to  the  evangelism  of  its  doctrines ;  setting  forth 
the  fall  of  man  from  his  primeval  innocence ;  the  original 
and  natural  depravity  of  the  human  heart;  the  justifica- 
tion of  sinners  by  Jesus  Christ ;  the  sanctification  of  the 
human  spirit  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  the  Godhead  of  the 
three  Divine  Persons  in  one  mysterious  Trinity ;  have 
individual  purity  of  morals,  and  national  prosperity  and 
happiness  uniformly  flourished.  Wherever  Christianity 
spread  its  mild  and  benignant  light,  the  waste  and  wil- 
derness of  life  began  to  bloom  as  the  paradise  of  God ; 
the  nations  of  the  earth  became  purified  and  exalted  in 
all  their  moral  and  intellectual  faculties,  they  were  freed 
from  the  fetters  of  political,  social,  and  domestic  slavery  ; 
they  were  more  advanced  in  skill  and  knowledge,  more 
deeply  versed  in  science,  more  accomplished  in  litera- 
ture, more  alive  to  industry  and  enterprise,  more  refined 
in  all  social  intercourse,  more  adorned  with  every  nobler 
virtue,  and  every  polished  grace,  more  benevolent  to 
man,  more  devoted  to  God. 

But  the  dawning  of  this  brightest  day  was  soon  over- 
cast with  clouds  and  thick  darkness ;  superstition  soon 
poisoned  the  waters  of  life  in  their  springs,  and  in  their 
sources ;  a  superstition  which  lulled  to  rest  all  fears  of 
future  punishment,  while  it  sanctioned  and  encouraged 
the  commission  of  every  crime ;  which  held  out  incite- 
ments to  the  most  profligate  ambition,  and  provided  for 
the  indulgence  of  the  most  sensual  sloth;  a  superstition, 
whose  imposing  ceremonies  were  interwoven  with  all 
the  institutions  of  society;  and  whose  spirit  of  delusion 
was  diffused  throughout  all  the  principles  of  civil  go- 
vernment. The  corruptions  of  Christianity  soon  began 
to  darken,  and  gradually  to  extinguish  the  lights  of  the 
understanding,  and  the  sensibilities  of  the  heart;  so  that 
a  greater  and  more  stupendous  mass  of  ignorance  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  4QJ 

iniquity,  than  had  ever  yet  oppressed  the  earth,  was  ex- 
hibited in  the  moral  and  intellectual  death  of  ten  suc- 
cessive centuries.  The  whole  circumference  of  Chris- 
tendom was  veiled  in  the  darkest  pall  of  civil  and 
religious  bondage  ;  the  human  conscience  was  benighted 
amidst  the  terrors  of  the  dungeon,  the  rack,  the  gibbet, 
and  tlie  flame  ;  and  the  persons  of  men  were  delivered 
over  a  prey  to  the  perpetuity  of  feudal  anarchy  and 
horror. 

In  the  midst  of  this  noon  of  night,  it  pleased  Divine 
Providence  again  to  interpose  for  the  benefit  of  human 
kind ;  the  Spirit  of  God  again  moved  upon  the  moraf 
and  intellectual  chaos,  and  in  the  fulness  of  his  own  ap- 
pointed time,  he  raised  up  Luther,  and  Calvin,  and  Knox, 
and  an  innumerable  army  of  saints  and  martyrs,  at  the 
era  of  the  Reformation,  to  bring  back  the  children  of 
disobedience  from  the  error  of  their  ways  to  the  wisdom 
of  the  just;  to  teach  men  the  pure  doctrines  of  revela- 
tion; to  be  the  means  of  enlightening  the  mind,  and 
amending  the  heart  of  all  the  forlorn  beings  that  were 
slumbering  in  the  confines  of  darkness,  or  trembling 
under  the  shadow  of  death.  Then,  indeed,  arose  a  new 
order  of  things ;  the  human  heart  swelled  with  the  sub- 
limest  raptures  of  spiritual  devotion ;  all  the  charities 
of  father,  husband,  son,  and  brother,  were  mingled  in 
every  life-throb  of  the  bosom;  substantial  integrity  and 
habitual  courtesy  at  once  supported  and  embellished  the 
whole  fabric  of  society;  the  mind  of  man  sprang  up- 
ward like  a  pyramid  of  fire,  and  by  its  blaze  of  intellec- 
tual light,  dissipated  the  Stygian  darkaess  of  the  middle 
ages ;  and  an  uninterrupted  chain  of  progressive  im- 
provement, united  together  all  the  intelligent  minds  of 
reillumined  Christendom. 

But  man,  weak,  frail,  unsubstantial  man.  the  changling 
of  an  hour,  ever  prone  to  pass  from  one  into  the  other 
extreme,  soon  vibrated  from  the  grossest  superstition 
into  the  most  obdurate  unbelief.  And  we,  who  now 
live  upon  the  earth,  are  doomed  to  witness  this  last  and 
most  dreadful  of  all  the  eras  of  human  depravity,  that 

51 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  general  profligate  infidelity.  The  light  of  religion  be- 
ing quenched,  that  of  moral  philosophy  is  speedily  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  surrounding  darkness ;  all  the  duties  of 
moral  obligation  having  no  other  basis,  than  the  will  of 
God  revealed  to  man  in  his  inspired  word.  All  political 
studies  are  proscribed,  lest  they  should  point  out  the 
path  to  civil  and  religious  liberty.  No  moral  culture  is 
encouraged,  and  no  intellectual  improvement  permitted, 
save  that  which  teaches  the  more  speedy  accomplish- 
ment of  the  works  of  blood  and  desolation ;  which  makes 
war  more  frequent,  more  extensive,  more  murderous. 
Whence,  a  few  ages  of  infidelity  would  roil  back  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  into  all  the  barbarism  of  universal 
ignorance ;  into  all  the  abominations  of  universal  iniqui- 
ty. To  this  most  deplorable  condition  was  the  Euro- 
pean Continent  verging  rapidly,  under  the  infidel  do- 
minion of  Revolutionary  France. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment,  and  resurvey  the  threefold 
progressive  augmentation  of  heavenly  light,  accompa- 
nied with  a  threefold  progressive  deterioration  of  human 
depravity. 

When  man  had  only  the  lesser  light  of  natural  con- 
science to  guide  his  uncertain  steps  through  the  mazes 
of  moral  duty,  the  Pagan  world,  although  partially 
illumined  in  intellect,  was  immersed  in  the  grossness  and 
profligacy  of  vice.  Yet  were  the  heathens  superior, 
both  in  doctrine  and  practice,  to  the  grand  corrupters  of 
Christianity,  whose  superstition  polluted  the  greater 
light  of  revelation,  and  approximated  the  human  animal 
nearer  to  the  brute  beast  in  understanding,  and  to  the 
fiend  in  iniquity.  But  the  total  rejection  of  the  greater- 
light  of  revelation  produces  a  more  impenetrable  dark- 
ness of  the  understanding,  and  a  more  entire  depravity 
of  the  heart  than  ever  arose  from  the  united  efforts  of 
the  corruption  of  Christianity  and  perversion  of  the  na- 
tural conscience.  So  that  the  world  now  presents  the 
spectacle  of  the  greatest  light  of  mind  and  most  unspot- 
ted purity  of  heart,  in  those  countries  where  the  unso- 
phisticated Gospel  is  believed,  contrasted  with  the  mid- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

night  of  the  intellect  and  the  loathsome  iniquity  of  those 
regions,  which  have  cast  off  all  allegiance  to  God  and  to 
his  Christ. 

The  influence  of  infidelity,  like  the  baneful  Upas,  lays 
the  hand  of  death  upon  all  that  it  touches ;  it  corrupts 
the  morals,  debases  the  intellect,  perverts  the  resources, 
tarnishes  the  character,  annihilates  the  honour,  of  every 
people  whom  it  enfolds  in  the  harlotry  of  its  embrace ; 
it  rolls  together  as  a  scroll  all  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
civilized  society;  it  casts  that  scroll  into  the  fire  of  hell; 
ieeding  upon  the  misery  of  man,  it  cuts  off  every  retreat 
from  virtue  and  happiness  into  human  intercourse;  it 
lays  for  ever  low  in  an  untimely  tomb,  all  that  dignity, 
tenderness,  wisdom,  charity,  affection,  and  confidence 
can  add  of  lustre  and  of  love  to  the  children  of  mortali- 
ty;  it  has  never  failed,  wheresoever  it  has  rolled  its  wa- 
ters of  bitterness  and  death,  to  sweep  away  all  the  an- 
cient boundaries  and  landmarks  of  human  improvement ; 
it  has  rolled  its  stream  of  ruin  over  all  the  art  and  pride 
of  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Italy,  and  every  other  region, 
waste  or  cultivated,  wholesome  or  poisonous,  in  the 
earth;  it  has  polluted  the  shades  of  learning  and  science, 
laid  open  and  desolate  the  properties  of  men,  levelled 
the  temples,  and  destroyed  me  altars  of  the  living  God ; 
scattered  to  the  wild  fury  of  the  winds  every  hope  and 
every  production  of  nature  that  looks  upward  to  the 
Heavens;  and  after  undermining  all  the  props  and  but- 
tresses of  social  order  that  have  been  reared  and 
strengthened  by  the  labours  of  hereditary  ages;  after 
washing  down  into  the  mire  of  desolation  kingdoms,  and 
nations,  and  empires,  and  people,  and  languages ;  so  that 
before  it  the  earth  was  as  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  be- 
hind it  a  deserted  waste ;  it  plunges  itself,  together  with 
all  that  it  encircles,  into  the  gulf  of  remediless  perdi- 
tion. 

In  the  present  state  of  the  world,  infidelity  is  closely 
allied  with  the  revolutionary  question;  and,  generally 
speaking,  those  who  are  eager  to  revolutionize  all  exist- 
ing governments,  under  the  ostensible  pretence  of  pro- 
moting the  liberty  and  prosperity  of  mankind,  are  alike 


4Q4  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

infidels  in  precept  and  in  practice.  But  these  patriotic 
politicians  widely  mistake  the  matter,  for  all  past  expe- 
rience shows,  that  civil  liberty  and  national  prosperity 
always  flourish  most  where  pure  Christianity  prevails ; 
and  that  despotism  is  the  most  unrestrained  and  cruel, 
and  public  happiness  most  completely  stifled,  where  un- 
belief predominates.  This  was  strongly  exemplified  in 
the  contrasted  condition  of  Britain  and  France,  during 
the  revolutionary  conflict.  France,  during  that  awful 
period,  was  a  prey  to  the  worst  species  of  desolation ; 
her  whole  people,  let  loose  from  the  salutary  restraints 
of  religious  and  moral  obligation,  presented  the  hideous 
spectacle  of  one  entire  mass  of  systematic  and  legalized 
corruption ;  her  agriculture  was  neglected,  her  external 
commerce  annihilated,  her  internal  trade  stagnant,  her 
manufactures  drooping,  her  science  and  literature  dark- 
ened almost  to  extinction ;  her  whole  community  groan- 
ed under  the  most  sanguinary  and  remorseless  tyranny 
that  ever  crushed  the  heart  of  man  to  the  earth ;  her 
sons  were  dragged  in  chains,  to  whiten  with  their  bones 
and  moisten  with  their  blood,  the  soil  of  far-distant  lands, 
while  her  own  deserted  widows  and  fatherless  babes  lay 
mouldering  in  unburied  heaps  throughout  every  nook 
and  corner  of  her  swollen  and  overgrown  empire.  Du- 
ring this  same  period,  the  British  people  were  protected 
in  their  equal  rights  by  the  unstained  administration  of 
equal  justice ;  the  full  security  of  life,  liberty,  and  pro- 
perty, was  preserved  to  all ;  a  continual  accumulation 
of  wealth  pervaded  all  the  departments  of  her  domi- 
nions, which  exhibited  an  improved  and  improving  sys- 
tem of  agriculture,  an  extensive  and  extending  commerce,- 
manufactures  thriving  and  increasing,  the  arts  liberally 
patronized,  science  and  Hterature  in  all  their  branches 
promoted  ;  their  lands,  canals,  houses,  rivers,  presenting 
the  most  unequivocal  proofs  of  progressive  industry  and 
prosperity;  the  people  advancing  in  pure  religion  and 
sound  morals,  steady  in  their  •habits  and  manners ; 
whence  resulted  the  enlargement  of  their  territorial  pos- 
sessions by  honourable  conquest;  their  inexhaustible 
stock  of  talents,  the  living  genius  of  freedom  and  intelli- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

gence,  which  explored  the  powers  and  recesses  of  na- 
ture, to  abridge  the  labours  and  embellish  the  produc- 
tions of  art;  rendering  knowledge  tributary  to  the 
wants,  the  comforts,  and  the  enjoyments,  not  only  of 
their  own  offspring,  but  also  of  the  whole  human  race. 

M.  Talleyrand  observes,  that  he  was  particularly 
struck  with  the  calmness*  in  relation  to  religion,  evidenced 
in  the  United  States,  so  contrary  to  the  zeal  and  enthu- 
siasm displayed  in  England ;  and  he  attributes  it  to  a 
variety  of  causes,  some  of  which  it  may  be  well  to  men- 
tion. He  supposes  that  the  first  and  most  important 
consideration  in  a  new  country  is  to  increase  its  riches  ; 
that  the  proof  of  such  a  disposition  manifests  itself  every 
where  in  America ;  and  that  we  find  evidence  of  it  in 
every  part  of  their  conduct;  and  that  the  customs,  with 
regard  to  religion  itself,  are  strongly  tinctured  with  this 
prevailing  disposition.  In  England  religion  has  always 
exercised  a  powerful  influence  over  the  national  mind 
and  character  of  the  people ;  in  that  country  the  great- 
est philosophers  and  profoundest  sages  have  cast  the 
sanctity  of  religion  over  their  most  intense  and  various 
intellectual  pursuits.  Since  the  age  in  which  Luther 
first  peered  above  the  horizon,  as  the  morning  star  of 
the  Reformation,  numerous  sects  and  denominations  oi 
Christianity  have  either  sprung  up  in  England,  or  found 
their  way  thither  from  other  countries.  And,  although 
in  general  the  great  national  establishment  of  the  church, 
together  with  nearly  a  full  toleration  of  other  persua- 
sions, has  maintained  a  general  current  of  tranquillity 
and  peace  within  the  bosom  of  the  British  isles ;  yet, 
occasionally,  the  temporary  ascendency  and  fierce  fana- 
ticism of  some  of  the  other  denominations  have  wrought 
sudden  and  great  political  changes  in  that  nation. 

All  these  various  Christian  denominations  have  been 
transplanted  into  America ;  and  several  of  the  separate 
States  actually  owe  their  political  origin  to  the  exclusive 
emigrations  of  some  of  these  sects.  It  was,  therefore, 
to  be  expected  that  these  religious  emigrants  would, 
after  their  transmigration,  continue  to  maintain  their 
original  state  and  character,  and  frequently  convulse 


406  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  agitate  the  American  body  politic.  But,  although 
for  a  time  religion  appeared  to  give  a  cast  of  national 
character  to  the  original  pilgrims,  and  their  immediate 
descendants,  yet  those  distinguishing  features  gradually 
disappeared,  and  religion  in  the  United  States  has  gra- 
dually settled  down  into  the  level  of  a  mere  personal, 
portable  secret,  instead  of  continuing  to  be  what  it  yet 
remains  in  England — a  kindred  fire,  flaming  with  elec- 
trical diffusion,  from  heart  to  heart,  and  lighting  up  the 
glow  of  general  enthusiasm  among  the  people.  In  the 
United  States  all  the  various  religious  sects  seem  to  co- 
exist in  a  calm,  unruffled  atmosphere.  It  is  not  very 
uncommon  for  the  father,  mother,  and  children  of  the 
same  family,  each  to  follow,  without  opposition,  their 
respective  modes  of  worship ;  a  spectacle  that  seldom 
occurs  in  Europe,  where  religion,  when  it  operates  at 
all,  actuates  not  only  individuals,  but  masses  of  men,  in 
their  joint  views  and  combined  exertions. 

Hence,  no  leader  of  any  religious  persuasion  in  the 
United  States,  however  ardent  may  be  his  own  zeal, 
and  however  vigorous  and  incessant  his  own  efforts,  can 
induce  his  followers  to  labour  to  aggrandize  that  sect, 
with  as  much  effectual  exertion  as  he  could,  under  the 
same  circumstances,  induce  a  similar  body  in  Europe  to 
co-operate  with  him.  On  the  days  of  public  worship, 
in  this  country,  the  individuals  of  the  same  family  set 
out  together ;  each  goes  to  hear  the  minister  of  his  own 
sect,  and  they  afterward  return  home  to  employ  them- 
selves, in  common,  in  their  domestic  concerns.  This 
diversity  of  religious  opinion  does  not  seem  to  produce 
any  contradiction  or  discordance  in  their  sentiments  as 
to  other  things.  Whence,  if  there  happens  to  arrive 
here,  from  Europe,  an  ambitious  sectary,  eager  to  afford 
a  triumph  to  his  own  particular  tenets,  by  inflaming  the 
passions  of  men ;  so  far  from  finding,  as  in  other  coun- 
tries, multitudes  disposed  to  enlist  under  his  banners, 
and  ready  to  second  his  violence,  his  very  existence  is 
scarcely  perceived  by  his  nearest  neighbours ;  his  indi- 
vidual enthusiasm  is  neither  attractive,  nor  interesting, 
nor  contagious ;  he  inspires  neither  love,  nor  hatred,  nor 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  4Q7 

curiosity ;  but  is  suffered  to  die  away  into  nothing,  be- 
neath the  frozen  pole  of  universal  indifference. 

This  was  peculiarly  exemplified  in  Dr.  Priestley. 
This  heresiarch,  and  veteran  trumpeter  of  sedition,  had 
openly  menaced  the  hierarchy  of  England  and  the  Bri- 
tish Constitution  with  speedy  destruction.  His  parti- 
sans followed  him,  eagerly  and  blindly,  throughout  ail 
the  numberless  changes  of  his  ever-shifting  religious 
and  political  creeds ;  they  poured  out  at  his  feet  their 
time,  their  property,  their  obedience,  their  acclamation ; 
they  enabled  nim  to  publish,  and  circulate  widely,  his 
pestilent  heresies,  and  malignant  invectives  against  the 
Church  and  government  of  England.  He  sate,  like  a 
demigod,  snuffing  up  the  incense  of  adulation  from  the 
Sociman  democrats  of  Great  Britain.  But  how  re- 
versed the  picture,  when  he  exchanged  an  English  for 
an  American  home  !  A  meagre  deputation  of  obscure 
clergymen  in  our  city  of  New-York  welcomed  him  to 
the  United  States  with  an  absurd  speech,  full  of  jacobin 
bombast  and  fustian.  He  afterward  repaired  to  Phi- 
ladelphia, where  he  preached  a  few  frigorific  sermons 
to  thin  and  drowsy  audiences;  he  then  retired  to 
Northumberland,  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  passed 
the  remainder  of  his  life  in  making  small  experiments 
amidst  his  alembics,  crucibles,  and  retorts,  for  the  result 
of  which  no  one  expressed  the  least  interest;  and  he 
also  occasionally  ushered  from  the  press  religious  and 
political  pamphlets,  which  no  one  ever  read.  His  death 
excited  little,  if  any  more  sensation  among  the  Pennsyl- 
vanian  patriots  than  they  are  wont  to  exhibit  at  the  dis- 
solution of  a  German  farmer,  or  a  German  farmer's 
horse. 

In  the  United  States  every  one  follows,  pretty  much 
according  to  his  own  inclination,  his  religious  opinions, 
and  pursues  with  undivided  eagerness  his  temporal 
concerns.  This  apparent  apathy  perhaps  arises  partly 
from  the  universal  equality  of  all  religious  denomina- 
tions. In  America  no  form  of  worship  is  prescribed,  no 
religious  ordinances  are  established  by  law ;  whence. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATIC. 

every  individual  is  left  at  liberty  to  follow  his  own  will; 
to  neglect  or  cultivate  religion  as  he  sees  fit.  Almost 
all  the  ardour  of  the  moment  that  is  passing  is  employed 
in  devising  the  means  of  acquiring  wealth,  and  promot- 
ing the  success  of  the  political  party,  in  which  the  active 
individuals  are  enrolled.  Hence  result  a  general  calm- 
ness and  composure  in  the  American  community,  with 
regard  to  the  personal  feelings  and  universal  diffusion 
of  religion;  and  it  sometimes  happens  that  Jehovah 
himself  is  shouldered  from  the  altar  peculiarly  dedi- 
cated to  his  solemn  services,  by  the  devotedness  of  the 
whole  heart  to  the  shrine  of  mammon,  or  to  the  pur- 
suits and  calculations  of  political  intrigue. 

In  the  United  States  there  is  no  national  Church 
established,  no  lay-patronage,  no  system  of  tithes.  The 
people  call  and  support  their  minister ;  few  Churches 
having  sufficient  funds  to  dispense  with  the  necessity  of 
contribution  by  the  congregation.  The  law  enforces 
the  contract  between  the  Pastor  and  his  flock,  and  re- 
quires the  people  to  pay  the  stipulated  salary,  so  long 
as  the  Clergyman  preaches  and  performs  his  parochial 
duty,  according  to  the  agreement  between  him  and  his 
parishioners.  In  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  New-Hamp- 
shire, and  Connecticut,  the  law  requires  each  town  to 
provide,  by  taxation,  for  the  support  of  religious  wor- 
ship ;  but  leaves  it  optional  with  every  individual  to 
choose  his  own  sect.  The  general  government  has  no 
power  to  interfere  with  or  regulate  the  religion  of  the 
Union,  and  the  States,  generally,  have  not  legislated 
farther  than  to  incorporate,  with  certain  restrictions, 
such  religious  bodies  as  have  applied  for  charters.  In 
consequence  of  this  entire  indifference  on  the  part  of 
the  State  governments,  full  one-third  of  our  whole  popu- 
lation are  destitute  of  all  religious  ordinances  ;  and  a 
much  greater  proportion  in  our  southern  and  western 
districts.  It  is  quite  just  and  proper,  that  no  one  sect 
should  have  any  preference,  either  religious  or  political, 
over  the  others ;  but  the  State  governments  ought,  at 
least,  to  interfere  so  far  as  New-Ensrland  has  done,  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

enforce  by  law  the  maintenance  of  religious  worship  in 
every  town,  leaving  the  choice  of  his  denomination  to 
each  individual. 

The  not  interfering  at  all  is  a  culpable  extreme  one 
way,  as  the  English  system  of  an  exclusive  national 
Church,  shutting  out  the  other  sects  from  equal  political 
privileges,  is  a  mischievous  extreme  the  other.  In  the 
United  Netherlands,  in  Prussia,  in  Russia,  and  even  in 
France,  all  the  religious  denominations  stand  on  equal 
political  ground ;  and  cannot  Britain  learn  to  augment 
her  intellectual  and  moral  power,  by  repealing  her  test 
and  corporation  acts,  and  permitting  all  her  people  to 
serve  her  to  the  full  extent  of  their  capacity,  in  her  civil 
and  military  functions  ?  During  the  time  when  Russia 
broke  down  the  military  strength  of  revolutionary 
France,  the  commander  in  chief  of  all  her  armies  be- 
longed to  the  Greek  Church,  her  minister  of  finance 
was  a  Protestant,  and  her  Premier  was  a  Papist.  Her 
affairs  were  not  the  worse  conducted,  because  she  dis- 
franchises none  of  her  sects  of  their  political  rights,  on 
account  of  their  religious  opinions.  The  prominent 
evils  of  the  English  Church  system  are  the  ministerial 
and  lay  patronage,  and  the  tithes.  Suppose,  for  example, 
(as  was  actually  the  fact  when  Lord  Bolingbroke  served 
Queen  Anne,)  the  British  prime  minister  is  an  avowed 
infidel,  what  kind  of  clergy  will  he  be  apt  to  place  in 
the  crown  livings?  Evangelical  men,  or  careless  irre- 
ligious clerks  ?  The  lay  patrons  also,  whether  noble 
or  gentle,  put  into  the  livings,  in  their  gift,  pastors,  in 
whose  call  the  people  have  no  voice,  but  are,  neverthe- 
less, required  to  sit  under  their  ministration.  Now,  if 
the  lay  patron  be  not  religious,  the  probability  is,  that 
his  Clergyman  shall  not  be  too  well  acquainted  with 
the  stupendous  scheme  of  revelation.  And,  perhaps, 
few  things  are  better  calculated  to  foster  the  growth  of 
infidelity  in  a  country,  than  putting  into  any  Church 
men  who  dole  out  only  a  little  thin,  diluted,  Sabbatical 
morality  once  in  seven  days,  instead  of  expounding  the 
great  statute  book  of  Christianity,  and  inculcating  the 
characteristic,  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  Bible. 

52 


410  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED 

"  Meanwhile,  the  hungry  sheep  look  up,  and  are  not 
fed,"  and  yet  grave  personages  profess  to  marvel  at  the 
rapid  growth  of  other  denominations,  whose  pastors,  on 
moderate  stipends,  perform  faithfully  the  duties  of  the 
highest,  the  holiest,  the  most  important,  and  the  most 
interesting  vocation,  that  can  be  accorded  to  man. 

The  system  of  tithes,  is  perhaps  the  very  worst  pos- 
sible mode  of  providing  for  the  clergy  that  could  be 
devised.  They  impede  the  progress  of  agriculture,  and 
create  perpetual  dissensions  between  the  pastor  and  his 
own  people ;  and  keep  in  a  state  of  incessant  exaspera- 
tion, all  those  other  sects,  who  dissent  from  the  doctrines 
and  government  of  episcopacy.  The  tithes  take  a  tenth 
part  of  the  gross  produce  of  the  land,  and  consequently 
operate  as  a  tax,  oppressive  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
expended  in  cultivating,  and  not  to  the  net  profits  of  the 
land  produce ;  whence,  they  grow  more  and  more  into- 
lerable, as  a  country  expends  more  and  more  capital  in 
agriculture ;  and  are  a  much  greater  grievance  in  Eng- 
land now,  when  so  vast  an  aggregate  of  farming  capital 
is  employed,  than  when  agriculture  consisted  chiefly  in 
pasture,  and  very  little  money  was  expended  in  culture, 
or  tillage.  Unless  the  British  government  shall  commute 
the  tithe  system  for  some  other  mode  of  maintaining  the 
national  clergy,  it  will  continue  an  evil,  as  pernicious  as 
the  poor  laws,  the  public  debt,  or  the  game  laws,  all  of 
which,  are  in  their  nature  and  amount,  singularly  op 
pressive,  and  two  of  them  tend  directly  to  produce  im- 
morality and  vice.  The  tithes  amount  to  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  the  rental  of  England  and  Ireland ;  to  at  least 
ten  millions  sterling  a  year;  to  which  add  church  lands, 
and  other  property,  five  millions  more,  and  it  gives  an 
annual  expenditure  of  fifteen  millions  sterling  or  sixty- 
seven  millions  of  dollars,  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
established  church ;  to  which  add  ten  millions  for  poor 
rates,  forty-four  millions  for  the  interest  of  the  national 
debt,  and  twenty-one  millions  for  government  expendi- 
ture, amounting  in  all  to  ninety  millions  sterling,  or  four 
hundred  and  five  millions  of  dollars  a  year;  an  awful 
burden  of  expenditure  on  twenty  millions  of  people ; 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  IJNITED  STATES.  4  j  j 

averaging  nearly  five  pounds,  or  at  least  twenty  dollars 
a  head,  for  each  inhabitant  of  the  British  Isles ;  whereas, 
in  the  United  Slates,  the  whole  public  expenditure  of 
the  general  government,  twenty  State  governments,  the 
poor  laws,  corporations,  and  counties,  scarcely  amount 
to  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  or  five  dollars  a  head  for  each 
individual  of  ten  millions  of  people,  who  are  rapidly 
increasing  in  number,  and  whose  immense  land  resources 
are  rising  in  value  every  hour. 

In  Ireland,  the  tithe  system  is  still  more  oppressive 
than  in  England.  Four-fifths  of  the  population,  are 
papists;  in  many  parishes  all  the  people  are  papists, 
having  no  protestant  minister,  but  the  nominal  parson 
resides  either  in  England  or  France,  or  elsewhere,  as 
suits  him,  and  the  tithe  proctor  grinds  down  the  Irish 
farmer  and  peasant,  and  perpetuates  their  abject  hope- 
less poverty. 

Our  different  sects  dispute  here  verbally,  and  by 
writing  pretty  much  as  they  do  in  Europe.  But  the 
liberal  piety  of  the  age,  its  philosophical  spirit  and  ge- 
nius, the  circumstances  of  Christendom,  the  prevalence 
of  Bible  and  Missionary  Societies,  and  Sunday  Schools, 
all  conspire  to  approximate  the  different  religious  per- 
suasions towards  each  other,  in  the  labours  of  love,  and 
in  the  beauty  of  harmony ;  to  break  down  the  partition 
wall  of  sectarianism,  and  to  unite  all  denominations  in 
their  blessed  efforts  to  spread  the  light  of  revealed  truth 
over  the  remotest  corners  of  the  globe.  It  is  in  vain 
for  any  church  to  attempt  to  uphold  its  exclusive  preten- 
sions against  the  social  institutions,  feelings,  and  habits 
of  the  country  where  it  is  placed ;  and  still  more  vain 
to  endeavour  to  revive  now,  in  these  United  States,  the 
intolerant  bigotry,  which  disgraced  Europe  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Lord  Clarendon,  in  his  Life  of  Him- 
self, makes  some  very  sagacious  observations  on  the 
manner  in  which  Archbishop  Laud,  by  straining  his 
ecclesiastical  pretensions  too  far,  and  indulging  an  un- 
bounded lust  of  clerical  domination,  brought  his  royal 
master  to  the  block,  and  ruined  that  very  church,  which 
he  so  zealously  laboured  to  exalt. 


412 


RESOURCES  OF  f  HE  UNITED  STATES. 


The  prevailing  religious  sects  in  the  United  States 
are,  the  Presbyterians,  the  Independents,  the  Episcopa- 
lians, Methodists,  and  Baptists ;  of  which  last  persuasion 
there  are  2,600  settled,  and  1,000  unsettled  congrega- 
tions. Pure  Episcopacy  is  in  fact  an  ecclesiastical  mo- 
narchy, the  Bishop  being  the  executive  chief  over  all 
the  clergy  of  his  diocess.  It  is,  however,  in  this  coun- 
try more  adapted  to  the  genius  of  our  republican  insti- 
tutions than  it  ever  was  in  England,  even  before  the 
houses  of  convocation  were  abolished ;  for  with  us,  the 
annual  state  convention  consists  of  lay  delegates  as  well 
as  clergy,  the  Bishop  presiding ;  and  the  general  con- 
vention, which  meets  once  in  three  years,  is  composed  of 
all  the  Bishops  in  the  Union,  who  form  the  upper  house, 
and  of  lay  delegates  and  clergy  from  all  the  different 
diocesses,  who  constitute  the  lower  house.  Indeed, 
every  church  must,  of  necessity,  conform  its  government 
and  discipline  in  some  measure  to  the  spirit  and  sub- 
stance of  the  social  institutions  of  the  country  where  it 
is  fixed.  Yet,  notwithstanding  our  republican  polity 
and  habits,  the  Bishops  exercise  great  authority  over 
their  diocesan  clergy,  and  possess  very  considerable 
power  in  regulating  and  governing  the  church. 

Presbyterianism,  in  its  government,  is  a  representa- 
tive republic ;  its  ecclesiastical  tribunals,  throughout  all 
their  gradations  of  church  sessions,  presbyteries,  synods, 
and  general  assemblies,  are  composed  of  an  equal  num- 
ber of  clergy  and  lay  elders,  whose  votes  have  all  ecjual 
efficacy,  and  who  transact  their  business  on  their  delibe- 
rative floor,  much  in  the  same  manner  as  do  our  Con- 
gress and  State  legislatures.  In  the  Independent  Con- 
gregational churches  all  is  carried  by  universal  suffrage 
in  each  separate  congregation,  there  being  no  general 
ecclesiastical  tribunal  to  which  may  be  referred  the  gra- 
ver matters  of  doctrine  and  discipline;  but  all  being 
submitted,  finally  and  without  appeal,  to  the  votes,  male 
and  female,  of  each  single  audience.  In  such  a  system 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  prevent  the  departure  from 
old  and  the  introduction  of  new  doctrines  ;  and,  accord- 
ingly, both  in  Old  and  New  England,  many  of  the  Inde- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  413 

pendent  Churches  have  passed  gradually  from  Calvin- 
ism, through  the  intermediate  stages  of  Arminianism, 
Arianism,  and  Semi-Arianisrn,  into  Socinianism,  or  Uni- 
tarianism,  or,  as  Priestley  calls  it,  Humanitarianism,  be- 
cause it  denies  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  considers 
him  merely  "  as  a  frail,  peccable,  erring  man." 

The  great  body  of  the  Congregationalists  are  to  be 
found  in  New-England;  and  some  of  their  churches  are 
scattered  through  the  middle  and  southern  states; 
which  are,  however,  chiefly  occupied  by  the  Presbyte- 
rians. Episcopacy  prevails  most  in  New-York,  Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South-Carolina,  and 
is  supposed  to  be  gaining  ground  in  some  parts  of  New- 
England.  The  Friends,  or  Quakers,  are  most  nume- 
rous in  the  middle  States ;  they  are  here,  as  in  Europe, 
and  every  where  else,  peculiarly  active  in  all  works  of 
benevolence.  For  example,  in  promoting  peace,  dis- 
couraging war,  aiding  the  progress  of  Bible  Societies, 
and  Sunday  Schools,  and  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The 
Methodists  occupy  chiefly  the  interior  of  the  southern 
States,  although  they  have  churches  scattered  over  the 
greatest  part  of  the  union.  The  Baptists  abound  most 
in  the  western  States.  The  Papists  are  most  numerous 
in  Maryland,  and  in  the  large  cities  on  our  sea-board ; 
their  numbers  are  continually  augmented  by  European 
importation;  but  they  seldom  make  proselytes  from 
other  sects.  The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  is  princi- 
pally confined  to  New-York  and  New-Jersey.  Jews 
are  scattered,  in  small  numbers,  all  over  the  union,  ex- 
cepting New-England,  where  a  veritable  Israelite  is  no 
more  able  to  live  than  in  Scotland. 

The  American  clergy  of  all  denominations  are,  in  ge- 
neral, decorous  in  their  exterior,  and  faithful  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  pulpit  and  parochial  duties.  There  is, 
however,  in  some  of  our  cities,  a  custom,  which  dimi- 
nishes their  usefulness;  namely,  the  collegiate  system, 
which  makes  three  or  four  churches  common  to  as  many, 
or  more  clergyman.  In  New- York,  the  Presbyterians 
have  wisely  abandoned  this  scheme ;  the  Episcopalians 
and  Dutch  still  retain  it.  Instead  of  giving  one  regular 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STAtES. 

pastor  to  each  separate  congregation,  the  essence  of  the 
collegiate  system  is,  not  to  suffer  the  same  clergyman  to 
preach  twice  successively  in  the  same  church;  whence, 
there  can  be  no  regular  exposition  of  the  Scriptures, 
without  which  no  congregation  can  be  built  up  in  Chris- 
tian instruction ;  mere  single,  unconnected  sermons,  or 
sabbatical  essays,  never  did,  and  never  will,  teach  a  peo- 
ple the  scheme  of  Revelation.  The  collegiate  system 
also,  does  not  admit  of  pastoral  duty  and  parochial  visi- 
tation, without  which  the  real  religion  of  a  church  can 
never  be  kept  up  or  established.  A  minister  of  mode- 
rate talents  and  learning,  if  he  be  the  stated  pastor  of  a 
single  church,  will  be  able  to  do  much  more  good  by 
regular  preaching  and  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
parochial  visitation,  than  a  man  of  the  first-rate  capacity 
can  possibly  effect,  by  occasional  preaching  in  a  church, 
in  common  with  talents  and  learning  of  every  various 
gradation.  No  order  of  ability  and  information  can 
compensate  for  a  radical  deficiency  of  system. 

Notwithstanding  so  large  a  portion  of  our  population 
is  altogether  without  religious  ordinances,  yet,  of  late, 
religion  has  been,  unquestionably,  gaining  ground  in  the 
United  States  ;  and  that  cold-blooded  compound  of irre- 
ligion,  irony,  selfishness,  and  sarcasm,  which  the  French 
call  persiflage,  is  not  so  rife  now  as  formerly.  Religion 
is  becoming  fashionable  among  us,  which  is  a  strong 
proof  of  the  existence  of  a  great  mass  of  real  piety  in 
the  country.  Some  of  our  soi-disant  philosophers,  how- 
ever, profess  to  ridicule  this  fashion,  and  to  deride  the 
cant  and  hypocrisy  of  the  present  day,  which  they  liken 
to  the  fanaticism  of  the  puritans,  who  converted  the 
English  monarchy  into  a  protectorate. 

But  the  extent  of  hypocrisy  must  always  be  regula- 
ted by  that  of  true  religion.  If  religion  be  not  gene- 
rally spread  over  the  community,  there  can  be  no  ef- 
fectual demand  for  extensive  hypocrisy ;  which,  in  it- 
self, is  never  any  thing  more  than  the  homage  of  vice 
to  virtue.  If  the  great  body  of  the  people  do  not  highly 
value  religion,  it  can  never  be  worth  the  while  of  lead- 
ing statesmen  to  play  the  hypocrite,  and  affect  to  be 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

pious,  in  order  to  become  acceptable  in  the  eyes  of  the 
nation.  If  the  politicians  of  revolutionary  France,  and 
of  our  southern  and  western  States,  do  not  find  it  neces- 
sary to  conceal  their  disregard  for  all  seriousness  and 
religion,  but  can  afford  to  avow  their  impious  tenets  of 
speculative  and  practical  infidelity,  it  only  proves,  that 
there  is  too  little  religion  in  their  respective  communi- 
ties, to  compel  them  to  wear  the  mask  of  hypocrisy,  and 
assume  the  semblance  of  that  piety  which  is  generally 
diffused.  It  only  proves,  that  the  hosts  of  infidels  are 
now  become  more  numerous  and  more  daring  in  Chris- 
tendom, than  they  were  in  some  former  ages.  In  Britain, 
religion  is  so  prevalent  among  all  sects  and  denomina- 
tions, that  her  leading  politicians  dare  not,  whatever 
may  be  their  private  opinions,  openly  avow  themselves 
to  be  infidels,  whether  Deists  or  Atheists. 

The  rapid  spread  of  Sunday  Schools,  and  of  Mission- 
ary and  Bible  Societies,  affords  a  most  consolatory  proof 
of  the  increase  of  religion  in  the  United  States.  Two 
years  have  not  yet  elapsed,  since  their  first  institution 
in  this  country,  and  they  have  already  considerably 
diminished  the  ignorance,  poverty,  and  vice  of  our  larger 
cities.  Many  of  our  most  respectable  families,  both 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  gratuitously  engage  in  the  labour 
of  teaching  the  Sunday  scholars,  black  and  white,  old 
and  young.  Their  exertions  have  caused  the  Sabbath 
to  be  respected  by  the  poor,  the  idle,  and  the  profli- 
gate; and  have  quickened ,  the  growth  of  piety,  order, 
industry,  and  cleanliness  amidst  the  habitations  of  filth, 
indolence,  confusion,  and  iniquity.  The  reports  of  the 
various  Sunday  School  Societies  are  peculiarly  interest- 
ing, for  their  mass  of  important  facts,  their  strain  of 
manly  religion  and  benevolence,  the  ability  and  elo- 
quence of  their  composition. 

The  Missionary  Societies  are  established  for  the  pur- 
pose of  converting  those  Indians  who  are  not  yet  ex- 
terminated by  the  sword  of  American  encroachment; 
and  also  to  supply  with  religious  instruction  the  millions 
of  our  own  people,  who  are  altogether  destitute  of  reli- 
gious ordinances.  The  labours  of  these  societies  have 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

been  singularly  beneficial,  and  are   daily  and  hourly 
augmenting  in  usefulness. 

Both  the  Sunday  Schools  and  Missions  unite  their 
excellent  efforts  to  aid  the  progress  of  Bible  Societies, 
which,  perhaps,  constitute  the  most  important  and  most 
comprehensively  useful  institution  that  has  ever  blessed 
the  human  race,  since  the  day-star  of  the  Reformation 
first  dawned  upon  a  benighted  world.  The  most  effec- 
tual means  probably,  that,  under  the  blessing  of  Divine 
Providence,  can  be  devised  to  oppose  an  effectual  obsta- 
cle to  the  general  progress  of  unbelief  and  immorality, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  extensive  and  judicious  distribu- 
tion of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  The  study  of  the  Bible 
facilitates  access  to  the  fountain  of  life ;  prepares  the 
way  for  the  instructions  of  the  living  teacher;  opens  the 
widest  road  to  all  moral  and  intellectual  improvement; 
exalts  the  whole  nature  of  man  to  a  higher  eminence  in 
the  scale  of  rational  and  spiritual  being.  If  you  wish  to 
know  what  is  in  man ;  what  his  nature,  and  what  his 
conduct,  under  every  form  of  society,  political  as  well  as 
religious ;  what  his  character  in  every  individual  condi- 
tion, savage  or  civilized,  give  your  days  and  nights  to 
the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  They  were  dictated  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  that  Almighty  God  who  created  man, 
and  who,  therefore,  is  most  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  nature  of  his  creature.  That  nature  is  most  clearly 
depicted  throughout  all  the  pages  of  the  inspired  vo- 
lume ;  which,  indeed,  affords  the  largest  range  of  con- 
templation to  those  enlightened  and  sagacious  minds 
that  are  earnestly  bent  upon  directing  successfully  their 
inquiries  into  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  human  heart ; 
because  it  is  upon  his  own  entire  knowledge  of  the  na- 
ture and  character  of  man,  that  the  Divine  Saviour  of 
the  world  has  so  strikingly  accommodated  his  scheme 
of  religion  to  the  wants  and  relief  of  that  being  for 
whose  means  of  eternal  salvation  Christianity  was  pro- 
mulgated. 

Wha.t  has  been  already  effected  by  the  efforts  of  the 
Bible  Societies,  scattered  over  so  large  a  portion  of  Chris- 
tendom, in  removing  the  darkness  of  the  understanding, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  purifying  the  corruptions  of  the  heart,  (or,  at  least, 
in  rendering  the  exterior  morals  more  decorous,  for  the 
heart  of  man  can  only  be  cleansed  from  its  unrighteous- 
ness by  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  of  God,)  is  a  suffi- 
cient pledge  to  encourage  the  unremitted  exertions  of 
every  real  Christian,  of  whatever  name,  sect,  or  persua- 
sion, to  persevere  in  this  labour  of  love.  Fourteen  years 
have  not  yet  elapsed,  since  the  first  establishment  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  ;  and  in  this  little  pe- 
riod the  sacred  Scriptures  have  been  spread  over  all  the 
home  dominions  of  Great  Britain  ;  have  been  translated 
in  whole  or  in  part,  into  more  than  a  hundred  different 
languages,  and  dispersed  over  almost  all  the  habitable 
globe ;  over  the  whole  of  continental  Europe,  a  part  of 
Africa,  a  considerable  portion  of  Asia ;  nay,  have  even 
penetrated  the  habitations  of  the  aboriginal  barbarians 
of  our  American  wilderness. 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Owen's  History  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  is  one  of  the  most  able,  eloquent, 
instructive,  and  interesting  books  which  has  ever  pro- 
ceeded from  the  pen  of  man. 

Since  the  establishment  of  this  primary  institution, 
Bible  Societies  have  sprung  up  in  unnumbered  multi- 
tudes, partly  branching  off  from  the  parent  trunk,  partly 
self-created  and  independent,  but  all  in  Christian  har- 
mony and  accord  with  each  other,  wheresoever  scatter- 
ed over  the  distant  regions  of  the  earth.  In  Britain  the 
affiliated  societies  are  augmented  beyond  all  power  of 
count,  and  furnish  a  continual  supply  of  the  word  of  life 
to  those  vast  masses  of  the  poor  and  destitute,  which  are 
always  to  be  found  in  old  and  fully  peopled  countries. 
On  continental  Europe  these  blessed  institutions,  in  some 
measure,  allayed  even  the  horrors  of  universal  warfare ; 
and  where  the  ravages  of  earthly  desolation  continued 
to  spread  themselves,  the  revealed  word  of  God  taught 
the  sufferers  to  lift  their  hearts  above  this  perishing 
scene  of  things,  and  direct  their  views  towards  those 
mansions  of  eternal  joy,  "  where  the  wicked  cease  from 
troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest."  In  Russia  more 
especially,  and  to  an  immense  extent ;  in  Sweden,  Den- 

53 


418  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

mark,  Saxony,  Bohemia,  Hungary,  the  United  Nether- 
lands, Prussia,  Switzerland,  and  many  other  parts  of  the 
European  continent,  Bible  Societies,  aided  by  the  muni- 
ficent donations  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Institution, 
are  perpetually  diffusing  the  word  of  God.  May  Di- 
vine Providence  enable  these  societies  to  stem  the  tor- 
rent of  general  infidelity,  which  has  been  infecting  the 
nations  of  continental  Europe  with  the  taint  of  death, 
during  the  lapse  of  an  entire  century  ! 

Nor  have  these  United  States,  in  proportion  to  their 
population  and  means,  fallen  short  of  their  Christian 
brethren  in  Europe  in  well-directed  efforts  to  dissemi- 
nate the  sacred  Scriptures.  In  almost  every  State  of 
the  Union,  north,  east,  west,  and  south,  and  in  many 
separate  districts  of  some  of  the  States,  have  Bible  So- 
cieties started  up,  under  the  auspices  of  zeal  and  wis- 
dom. The  American  Bible  Society,  a  national  institu- 
tion, established  so  recently  as  in  May,  1 8 1 6,  has  alrea- 
dy about  a  hundred  and  fifty  auxiliary  branches ;  be- 
sides which  there  are  some  few  independent  Bible 
Associations,  and  a  considerable  number  of  Bible  and 
Common  Prayer-book  societies.  The  old  and  young, 
the  rich  and  poor,  of  every  Christian  denomination,  have 
sprung  forward  with  alacrity  and  ardour  to  enrol  them- 
selves under  the  banners  of  the  Cross ;  to  do  personal 
suit  and  service  to  the  great  Captain  of  their  salvation, 
by  distributing  His  glad  tidings  of  present  peace,  and 
future  hope,  and  eternal  safety,  among  all  those  who 
have  hitherto  lived  without  God  in  the  world. 

Neither  can  it  be  said,  that  America  does  not  stand 
in  need  of  every  individual,  every  social  effort,  to  distri- 
bute the  sacred  oracles  among  her  children.  The  sa- 
vage tribes  of  Indians,  who  prowl  around  our  frontiers, 
or  who  roam  over  the  pathless  wilderness,  remain  still 
benighted  in  all  the  original  darkness  of  pagan  ignorance 
and  superstition.  Nay,  even  our  own  fellow-citizens  in 
the  United  States,  require  all  the  assistance  that  can  be 
given  to  facilitate  their  access  to  the  means  of  eternal 
fife.  Full  three  millions  of  our  people  are  altogether 
destitute  of  Christian  ordinances;  and  as  the  population 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  this  country  increases  with  a  rapidity  hitherto  unex- 
ampled in  the  history  of  nations,  unless  some  effectual 
means  be  adopted  to  spread  the  light  of  the  gospel  over 
those  sections  of  the  Union,  which  now  lie  prostrate  in 
all  the  darkness  of  unregenerated  depravity,  before 
half  a  century  shall  have  elapsed,  our  federative  republic 
will  number  within  its  bosom  more  than  twenty  millions 
of  unbaptized  infidels. 

The  voice  of  duty,  therefore,  and  of  humanity,  and 
Christian  charity,  calls  loudly  upon  us  to  strain  every 
sinew,  to  stretch  every  nerve,  in  strenuous  and  unremit- 
ted  exertion,  to  circulate  the  Holy  Scriptures  among  all 
the  orders  and  classes  of  our  community.  This  soul- 
ennobling  duty  is  the  more  incumbent  upon  Bible  Soci- 
eties, because  it  is  their  peculiar  privilege  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian Society,  instituted  for  truly  Christian  purposes; 
with  them,  engaged  as  they  are  in  one  common  labour 
of  philanthropy,  every  partition  wall  of  sectarian  bigotry 
is  broken  down ;  every  denomination  of  all  Christian 
persuasions,  is  met  together  with  one  heart,  and  with 
one  accord.  They  leave  to  graceless  zealots,  the  mise- 
rable consolation  of  worrying  each  other,  and  disgracing 
themselves  by  the  fiercest  contentions  about  the  paltry 
shibboleths  of  puny  polemics;  their  sole  object  is  to 
give  a  free  course,  a  wider  circulation  to  the  unsophisti- 
cated word  of  God ;  and  I  trust,  that  they  will  never 
for  one  moment,  slacken  their  exertions  of  time,  talent, 
knowledge,  substance,  opportunity,  body,  soul,  and  spirit, 
their  universal  nature,  in  this  great,  this  interesting  ser- 
vice, while  a  single  section  of  our  country;  a  single 
town,  village,  or  hamlet;  nay,  a  single  family,  or  indiyi- 
dual,  within  the  whole  circumference  of  our  vast,  and 
rapidly  widening  republic,  is  to  be  found,  to  whom  the 
sacred  Scriptures  are  as  a  fountain  closed,  and  a  volume 
sealed. 

The  morals,  manners,  and  character,  of  .every  country, 
are  based  upon  its  religious  and  social  institutions,  which 
in  the  United  States  are  framed  in  the  fulness  of  indivi- 
dual liberty;  leaving  every  one  to  think,  speak,  and  act, 
according  to  his  own  inclination  and  views ;  provided, 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

however,  that  he  keeps,  (as  Shakspeare  calls  it,)  on  the 
windy  side  of  the  law. 

The  great  body  of  the  American  people  are  of  Eng- 
lish origin,  and  resemble  their  parent  country  in  morals, 
manners,  and  character,  modified  indeed,  by  the  diversi- 
ties of  government,  soil,  climate,  and  condition  of  society. 
Being,  however,  all  under  the  influences  of  the  same  lan- 
guage, religion,  laws,  and  policy,  the  several  States 
which  compose  the  Union  present  substantially  the  same 
character,  with  only  a  few  shades  of  local  variety.  All 
our  governments  are  elective  and  popular,  the  plenary 
sovereignty  residing  in  the  people,  who  therefore  feel  a 
sense  of  personal  importance  and  elevation,  unknown  to 
the  mass  of  population  in  any  other  country.  To  which 
add  their  general  intelligence,  abundance,  enterprise, 
and  spirit,  and  we  see  a  people  superior  to  those  of  every 
other  nation,  in  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  capacity 
and  power. 

In  New-England,  property  is  more  equally  divided, 
than  in  any  other  civilized  country.  There  are  but  few 
overgrown  capitalists,  and  still  fewer  plunged  into  the 
depths  of  indigence.  Those  States  are  alike  free  from 
the  insolence  of  wealth,  on  one  hand,  and  the  servility 
of  pauperism  on  the  other.  They  exhibit  a  more  per- 
fect equality  in  means,  morals,  manners,  and  character, 
than  has  ever  elsewhere  been  found.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  Rhode-Island,  they  all  support  religion  by  law ; 
their  numerous  parish  priests,  all  chosen  by  the  people 
themselves,  moderately  paid,  and  in  general,  well 
informed  and  pious,  are  continually  employed  on  the 
sabbaths,  and  during  the  week  days,  in  the  instruction 
and  amendment  of  their  respective  congregations ;  their 
elementary  schools  are  established  in  every  township, 
and  perhaps  not  a  native  of  New-England  is  to  be  found, 
who  cannot  read,  and  write,  and  cast  accounts.  They 
live  universally  in  villages,  or  moderately  sized  towns ; 
and  carry  on  their  commercial,  manufacturing,  and 
agricultural  operations,  by  the  voluntary  labour  of 
freemen,  and  not  by  the  compelled  toil  of  slaves.  In 
sobriety  of  morals  and  manners,  in  intelligence,  spirit. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


421 


and  enterprise,  the  New-England  men  and  the  Scottish, 
are  very  much  alike.  Dr.  Currie,  in  his  profound  and 
elegant  biography  of  Burns,  enters  at  length  into  the 
causes  which  have  rendered  the  great  body  of  the  Scot- 
tish people  so  very  superior  to  those  of  any  other  Euro- 
pean country ;  the  result  of  his  reasoning  is,  that  this 
national  superiority  is  owing  to  the  combined  efforts  of 
the  system  of  parish  schools,  giving  to  all  the  means  of 
elementary  education,  and  of  a  moderately  paid,  able, 
and  well-informed  clergy,  coming  into  constant  contact 
with,  and  instructing  and  regulating  the  people;  to 
which  he  adds,  as  no  small  auxiliary,  the  absence  of  those 
poor  laws  which  have  impoverished,  and  deteriorated, 
and  corrupted  the  whole  people  of  England. 

In  this  country  we  have  unfortunately  adopted  the 
English  poor-law  system ;  which,  so  far  as  it  yet  ope- 
rates, is  a  cankerworm,  gnawing  at  the  heart's  core  of 
our  national  morals,  prosperity,  and  strength.  The 
American  people,  however,  possess  one  decided  advan- 
tage over  those  of  Scotland,  and  every  other  country ; 
namely,  that  of  the  political  sovereignty  residing  in  them ; 
whence  they  exhibit,  in  their  own  persons,  a  moral  fear- 
lessness, confidence,  and  elevation,  unknown  and  unima- 
gined  elsewhere.  A  native  free-born  American  knows 
no  superior  on  earth  ;  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave  he 
is  taught  to  believe  that  his  magistrates  are  his  servants  ; 
and  while,  in  all  other  countries,, the  people  are  continu- 
ally flattering  and  praising  their  governors,  our  govern- 
ment is  compelled  to  be  eternally  playing  the  sycophant, 
and  acting  the  parasite,  to  the  majesty  of  the  people. 
It  may,  on  the  whole,  be  safely  asserted  that  the  New- 
England  population  surpasses  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  in  steady  habits,  dauntless  courage,  intelligence, 
enterprise,  perseverance — in  all  the  qualities  necessary 
to  render  a  nation  first  in  war  and  first  in  peace.  Upon 
inquiry,  I  was  informed  by  one  of  our  southern  generals, 
who  particularly  distinguished  himself  on  our  northern 
frontiers  during  the  last  war,  that  the  New-England  re- 
giment, in  his  brigade,  was  peculiarly  conspicuous  for 
its  exact  discipline,  its  patient  endurance  of  fatigue  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

privation,  its  steady,  unyielding  valour  in  the  field ;  while 
his  own  native  Virginians  were  more  careless,  more  reck- 
less, more  inflammatory,  more  fit  for  a  forlorn  hope,  or 
some  desperate,  impracticable  enterprise.  He  added, 
that  he  regularly  found  that  all  the  rum  dealt  out  as  ra- 
tions to  his  New-England  soldiers  had  glided  down  the 
throats  of  his  Virginian  regiment;  whose  joay,  in  return, 
had  been  regularly  transferred  to  the  pockets  of  the 
more  prudent  eastern  warriors. 

In  the  Middle  States  the  population  is  not  so  national 
and  unmixed  as  in  New-England,  whose  inhabitants  are 
altogether  of  English  origin.     They  do  not  support  re- 
ligion by  law ;  and  a  considerable  portion  of  their  peo- 
ple are  destitute  of  clergymen,  even  in  the  State  of  New- 
York,  and  a  still  greater  proportion  in  some  of  the  other 
middle  States.     In  some  of  them  elementary  schools  are 
not  numerous,   particularly  in   Pennsylvania,  many  of 
whose  people  can  neither  write  nor  read.     Property  is 
not  so  equally  divided,  and  the  distinction  of  rich  and 
poor  is  more  broadly  marked  than  in  New-England. 
Many  of  their  settlements  are  more  recent,  and  exhibit 
the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  disadvantages  of 
new  settlements,  in  the  privations,  ignorance,  and  irreli- 
gion  of  the  settlers,  who  were  composed  of  many  differ- 
ent nations,  having  no  one  common  object  in  view,  either 
in  regard  to  religious,  or  moral,  or  social  institutions. 
The  English,  Dutch,  Germans,  French,  Irish,  Scottish, 
Swiss,  have  not  yet  had  time  and  opportunity  to  be  all 
melted   down  into  one  homogeneous  national  mass  of 
American  character.     The  slaves  in  this  section  of  the 
Union  are  more  numerous  than  in  New-England,  and  in 
Maryland  sufficiently  so,  to  influence  and  deteriorate 
the  character  of  the  people.     The  moral  habits  of  the 
Middle  States,  generally,  are  more  lax  than  those  of 
New-England.     New-York,  indeed,  partly  from  proxi- 
mity of  situation,  but  chiefly  from  its  continual  acquisi- 
tion of  emigrants  from  the  Eastern  States,  is  rapidly 
assuming  a  New-England  character  and  aspect. 

In  the  Southern  States  religion  receives  no  support 
from  the  law ;  and  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  inha- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  423 

bitants  are  destitute  of  regular  preaching  and  religious 
instruction.     The  elementary  schools  are  few,  and  in 

feneral  not  well  administered ;  many  of  the  white  in- 
abitants  cannot  even  read.  Labour,  on  the  seaboard, 
is  performed  chiefly  by  slaves ;  and  slavery  here,  as 
every  where  else,  has  corrupted  the  public  morals.  The 
mulattoes  are  increasing  very  rapidly  ;  and,  perhaps,  in 
the  lapse  of  years,  the  black,  white,  and  yellow  popula- 
tion will  be  melted  down  into  one  common  mass.  Duel- 
ling and  gaming  are  very  prevalent;  and,  together  with 
other  vices,  require  the  restraining  power  of  religion 
and  morality  to  check  their  progress  towards  national 
ruin. 

When  speaking  of  the  gradual  relaxation  of  morals  in 
the  United  States,  as  we  pass  from  the  north  and  east 
to  the  south  and  west,  it  is  to  be  understood  that  the 
American  ladies  are  not  included  in  this  geographical 
deterioration.  In  no  country  under  the  canopy  of  hea- 
ven do  female  virtue  and  purity  hold  a  higher  rank  than 
in  the  Union.  We  have  no  instances  among  us  of  those 
domestic  infidelities,  which  dishonour  so  many  families 
in  Europe,  and  even  stain  the  national  character  of 
Britain  herself,  high  as  she  peers  over  all  the  other 
European  nations,  in  pure  religion,  and  sound  morality. 
Our  American  ladies  make  virtuous  and  affectionate 
wives,  kind  and  indulgent  mothers;  are,  in  general, 
easy,  affable,  intelligent,  and  well  bred ;  their  manners 
presenting  a  happy  medium  between  the  too  distant  re- 
serve and  coldness  of  the  English,  and  the  too  obvious, 
too  obtrusive  behaviour  of  the  French  women.  Their 
manners  have  a  strong  resemblance  to  those  of  the 
Irish  and  Scottish  ladies. 

The  public  morals,  however,  of  the  free  male  popula- 
tion of  our  southern  and  western  States,  are  materially 
injured  by  the  existence  of  the  slave  system.  Even  Mr. 
Morris  Birkbeck,  whose  ultra  whiggism  has  led  him,  in 
his  old  age,  to  fly  with  horror  from  the  despotism  of 
Britain,  because  she  overthrew  his  friend  Napoleon,  the 
great  patron  saint  of  liberty  in  Europe ;  even  he  ex- 
presses grave  doubts,  if  the  condition  of  his  enslaved 


424  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED 

countrymen  be  quite  so  bad  as  that  of  the  negroes  in 
Virginia;  and  he  runs  a  philosophical  parallel,  very 
much  after  the  manner  of  Plutarch,  between  the  situ- 
ation of  the  English  peasantry  and  that  of  the  Virginian 
slaves,  balancing  their  respective  evils  under  various 
heads  of  inquiry;  and,  upon  the  whole,  seems  inclined 
to  think,  that  the  British  people  are  not  yet  reduced  so 
lew  in  the  scale  of  oppression  and  suffering  as  the  black 
inhabitants  of  our  "  Ancient  Dominion"  Indeed,  the 
sensibilities  of  this  veteran  reformer  were  so  much 
awakened,  he  says,  as  actually  to  cause  him  to  shed 
tears,  when  he  saw  some  slaves  sold  in  Richmond,  the 
capital  of  Virginia;  and  he  does  not  hesitate  to  affirm, 
that  the  superior  morals  of  those  States,  which  have 
abolished  slavery,  proves  servitude  to  be,  in  truth,  the 
bane  of  society. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  says,  that  in  May,  1817,  he  was  at 
Petersburgh,  on  his  way  to  Indiana,  where  he  is  now 
endeavouring  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  colony,  to  be 
peopled  by  English, :  who,  like  himself,  are  too  virtuous 
and  too  wise  to  live  under  the  British  government, 
•whose  wickedness  and  tyranny  are  consummating  its 
speedy  perdition.  He  says  he  found  a  Virginian  tavern 
like  a  French  hotel,  but  more  filthy,  without  its  culinary 
excellence,  and  dearer  than  an  English  inn.  The  daily 
number  of  guests  at  its  ordinary  was  fifty,  consisting  of 
travellers,  shopkeepers,  lawyers,  and  doctors.  He 
found  the  Virginian  planter  a  republican  in  politics,  and 
full  of  high-spirited  indepedence,  but  a  slave  master, 
irascible,  lax  in  morals,  and  wearing  a  dirk.  He  never 
saw  in  England  an  assemblage  of  countrymen,  who 
averaged  so  well  in  dress  and  manners.  Their  conver- 

O 

sation  gave  him  a  high  opinion  of  their  intelligence — 
the  prevailing  topic  was  negro  slavery,  an  evil  which 
all  professed  to  deplore,  many  were  anxious  to  fly  from, 
but  for  which  none  could  devise  a  remedy. 

One  gentleman,  an  invalid,  was  wretched  at  the 
thought  of  his  family  being  left,  for  a  single  night,  with- 
out his  protection  from  his  own  slaves.  He  was  him- 
self .labouring  under  the  effects  of  a  poisonous  potion, 


RESOURCES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES.  425 

administered  to  him  by  a  negro,  his  own  personal  ser- 
vant, to  whom  he  had  been  particularly  kind  and  gene- 
rous, and  who  thus  recompensed  his  indulgence.  It 
was  stated,  that  severe  and  rigorous  masters  seldom 
suffer  from  the  resentment  of  their  slaves.  On  the  10th 
of  May,  1817,  Mr.  Birkbeck  saw  two  female  slaves  arid 
their  children  sold  by  auction,  in  the  street,  at  Rich- 
mond ;  a  spectacle  which  exceedingly  shocked  him;  he 
could  scarcely  endure  to  see  them  handled  and  ex- 
amined like  cattle,  and  when  he  heard  their  sobs,  and 
saw  the  tears  roll  down  their  cheeks,  at  the  thought 
of  being  separated,  he  could  not  refrain  from  weeping 
with  them.  Such  is  the  consistency  of  an  English 
patriot,  who  laments,  that  his  own  native  country  was 
not  enslaved  by  that  virtuous  republican,  Buonaparte ! 

In  selling  slaves,  our  southern  planters  and  dealers 
pay  no  regard  to  parting  nearest  relations,  to  separating 
parents  and  children,  or  tearing  asunder  husbands  and 
wives.  Virginia  prides  itself  on  the  comparative  mild- 
ness with  which  its  slaves  are  treated ;  and  yet,  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  American  Museum  there  is  a  heart- 
rending account  of  a  slave  being,  for  some  offence,  put 
into  an  iron  cage,  suspended  to  the  branches  of  a  lofty 
tree,  and  left  to  perish  by  famine  and  thirst,  unless  the 
birds  of  prey,  to  admit  which  the  bars  of  the  cage  stood 
at  intervals  sufficiently  wide,  cpuld  terminate  his  life 
sooner,  by  plunging  their  beaks  and  talons  into  his  vi- 
tals. In  the  mean  time  the  eagle,  the  vulture,  and  the 
raven  feasted  upon  the  quivering  flesh  of  the  living  vic- 
tim, whose  body  they  mangled  at  their  own  leisure ; 
and  the  high-spirited  republicans  of  the  ancient  do- 
minion were  gratified  by  knowing,  that  the  air  was 
tainted  by  the  putrefaction,  and  loaded  with  the  expiring 
cries  and  groans  of  an  agonized  fellow-man,  doomed  to 
die  by  protracted  torture. 

Virginia  supplies,  annually,  with  slaves  of  her  own 
growth,  the  States  farther  south,  where  the  treatment 
of  the  negroes  is  said  to  be  much  more  severe  and  more 
destructive  of  life.  There  are  regular  dealers,  who 
buv  up  slaves,  aad  drive  them  in  gangs,  chained  to- 

54 


426  RESOURCES  OF  THE  LiMTKD  STATES. 

f ether,  and  more  than  half  naked,  to  a  southern  market, 
'ew  weeks  pass  without  some  of  these  wretched  ciea- 
tures  being  marched  through  Richmond,  on  their  south- 
ward course ;  a  few  months  since  nearly  two  hundred 
were  sold  by  auction  in  the  street,  and  filled  all  the 
region  round  with  their  cries,  and  shrieks,  and  lamenta- 
tions. Mr.  Birkbeck  observes,  that  he  found  in  Vir- 
ginia the.  condition  of  the  negroes  more  miserable,  and 
the  tone  of  moral  feeling  in  their  owners  much  higher 
than  he  had  anticipated ;  that  he  is  confirmed  in  his 
detestation  of  slavery,  both  in  principle  and  practice, 
and  that  he  esteems  the  general  character  of  the  Vir- 
ginians. 

The  western  States  participate  in  the  morals,  man- 
ners, and  character  of  those  sections  of  the  Union,  by 
which  they  are  peopled,  namely,  the  southern  and  mid- 
dle, and  above  all,  the  New-England  States.  Mr. 
Birkbeck's  account  of  the  emigration  westward,  and  of 
his  own  progress  through  the  new  settlements,  is  in- 
teresting and  instructive ;  from  his  narrative  1  shall  bor- 
row such  facts  as  may  illustrate  the  present  inquiry. 
Indeed,  all  America  appears  to  be  moving  to  the  west. 
The  political  consequences  of  this  migration  will  soon 
be  portentous.  During  the  revolutionary  war,  and  for 
some  years  after  its  termination,  the  influence  of  New- 
England  predominated  in  our  national  councils,  and 
Washington's  administration  established  the  prosperity 
and  glory  of  the  country  on  a  solid  basis.  Afterward 
Virginia  contrived,  by  managing  the  southern  and  mid- 
dle States,  to  render  New-England  nearly  a  political 
cypher  in  the  Union.  And  now,  the  rapid  growth  of 
tne  western  States,  in  population,  wealth,  and  strength, 
threaten,  ere  long,  to  give  them  a  preponderance  over 
all  the  Atlantic  sections  of  the  United  States ;  and  to 
entail  upon  us  a  system  of  tramontane  policy,  but  little 
accordant  with  our  commercial  views  and  interests. 
The  first  step  of  decided  western  legislation,  probably 
will  be  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  general  government 
from  Washington,  across  the  Alleghany  mountains,  to 
some  place  nearer  the  Pacific  Ocean. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


427 


On  the  great  route  towards  the  Ohio,  the  traveller 
has  constantly  in  view  groups  of  emigrants,  directing 
their  steps  towards  the  land  of  promise ;  some  with  a 
little,  light  wagon,  covered  with  a  sheet  or  blanket, 
and  containing  bedding,  utensils,  provisions,  and  a  co- 
lony of  children,  drawn  by  one  or  two  small  horses,  and 
perhaps  accompanied  by  a  cow.  A  few  silver  dollars 
also  are  carried  for  the  purchase  of  public  land,  at  two 
dollars  an  acre,  one-fourth  of  the  purchase  money  to  be 
paid  immediately,  upon  entering  the  claim  at  the  land- 
office  of  the  district  where  the  purchase  is  located. 
The  New-England  pilgrims  are  said  to  be  known  by 
the  light  step  and  cheerful  air  of  the  women,  marching 
in  front  of  the  family  caravan;  the  New-Jersey  wan- 
derers, by  being  quietly  housed  under  the  tilt  of  the 
wagon ;  while  the  Pennsylvanian  emigrants  creep, 
loitering  behind,  with  melancholy  gait,  and  slow.  A 
cart  with  one  horse,  or  a  single  horse  and  pack-saddle, 
transports  a  family  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  sec- 
tion of  the  Union,  a  distance  of  between  two  and  three 
thousand  miles;  and,  not  unfrequently,  the  adventurer 
carries  all  his  fortunes  on  his  staff,  while  his  wife,  bare- 
footed, follows,  bearing  on  her  shoulders  the  treasure  of 
the  cradle. 

The  Americans  are,  unquestionably  the  most  loco- 
motive, migrating  people  in  the  world.  Even,  when 
doing  well  in  the  northern,  or  middle,  or  southern  states, 
they  will  break  up  their  establishment,  and  move  west- 
ward, with  an  alacrity  and  vigor,  that  nothing  but  the 
necessity  of  adverse  circumstances  could  induce  in  any 
other  population.  In  the  year  1817,  nearly  twenty 
thousand  wagons,  averaging  a  burden  of  forty  hundred 
weight  each,  travelled  between  Baltimore  and  Philadel- 
phia, on  one  side,  and  Pittsburgh  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Alleghany  mountains.  The  freight,  or  carriage  of  the 
goods  thus  conveyed,  exceeded  two  millions  of  dollars. 
To  which  add  numberless  well  loaded  stages  and  mails, 
travellers  in  wagons,  on  horses,  and  on  foot,  and  some 
notion  may  be  formed  of  the  incessant  line  of  march  over 
these  three  hundred  miles  of  the  western  road. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Travellers  from  the  eastern  districts  often  leave  their 
horses  at  Pittsburgh,  and  go  down  the  Ohio  to  their 
place  of  destination ;  while  those  from  the  west,  pro- 
ceed eastward  in  stages.  Even  elderly  women  make 
long  journeys  on  horseback,  for  instance,  from  Tennes- 
see to  Pittsburg,  a  distance  of  twelve  hundred  miles; 
nay,  sometimes,  the  lady  will  carry  an  infant  on  the 
horse,  in  addition  to  herself,  a  blanket  above  and  be- 
neath the  saddle,  a  pair  of  saddle-bags,  a  greatcoat,  and 
an  umbrella.  Mr.  tfirkbeck,  in  June,  1817,  when  at 
Washington,  in  Pennsylvania,  saw  a  farmer  and  his  wife, 
well  -mounted  and  equipt;  they  had  ridden  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cincinnati,  in  Ohio,  and  were  pro- 
ceeding on  horseback,  to  visit  their  friends  at  New-York, 
and  Philadelphia,  a  distance  of  seven  hundred  miles. 
They  had  left  Cincinnati  six  days  before,  had  travelled 
two  hundred  and  seventy-tAVo  miles,  and  their  horses 
were  quite  fresh;  a  conclusive  proof  of  their  excellence. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  gives  the  history  of  a  farmer  and  ta- 
vern-keeper about  twenty  miles  from  Washington,  as  an 
example  of  the  rapid  appreciation  of  property  in  the 
western  country.  The  man  is  thirty,  has  a  wife  and 
three  fine  children.  His  father  is  a  farmer  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood ;  and  gave  him  five  hundred  dollars  to  begin 
the  world  with,  which  he  did  by  taking  a  cargo  of  flour 
to  New-Orleans,  distant  about  two  thousand  miles.  In 
1815,  he  had  increased  his  property  to  nine  hundred 
dollars,  and  bought  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land, 
sixty-five  of  which  are  cleared,  and  laid  down  to  grass, 
for  three  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  of  which  three 
thousand  are  already  paid.  His  property  is  now  worth 
seven  thousand  dollars,  having  grown  half  that  sum  in 
value  in  two  years,  with  a  full  prospect  of  a  much  greater 
appreciation  in  future.  In  many  parts  of  Ohio,  land  is 
now  worth  from  twenty  to  thirty  dollars  an  acre;  an 
advance  in  value  of  a  thousand  per  cent  in  the  last  ten 
years. 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Birkbeck  admits,  that  emigrants 
with  small  capitals,  particularly  if  from  Europe,  are  lia- 
ble to  great  inconveniences.  For  money,  although  abun- 


*     RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  429 

dantly  competent  to  the  purchase  of  land  is  soon  con- 
sumed in  the  expenses  of  travelling,  which  are  great. 
The  settlers  in  the  new  country  are  generally  needy 
adventurers,  and  exposed  to  difficulties,  which,  in  addi- 
tion to  unhealthy  situations,  shorten  life.  The  public 
land,  intended  for  sale,  is  laid  out  in  the  government 
surveys,  in  quarter  sections  of  160  acres  each,  or  one 
fourth  of  a  square  mile.  The  whole  is  set  up  at  auction, 
and  what  remains  unsold  may  be  bought  at  the  district 
land  office,  at  two  dollars  an  acre ;  one  fourth  to  be 
paid  down,  and  the  residue  in  instalments,  to  be  com- 
pleted in  five  years.  The  emigrant  having  paid  his 
eighty  dollars  for  a  quarter  section,  is  often  left  penni- 
less, and  repairs  to  his  purchase  in  a  wagon,  containing 
his  wife  and  children,  a  few  blankets,  a  skillet,  a  rifle, 
and  an  axe.  After  erecting  a  little  log  hut,  he  clears, 
with  intense  labour  a  plot  of  ground  for  Indian  corn,  as 
his  next  year's  subsistence ;  depending,  in  the  mean- 
time, on  his  gun  for  food.  In  pursuit  of  game,  he 
must  often,  after  his  day's  work,  wade  through  the 
evening  dews  up  to  the  Avaist,  in  long  grass  or  bushes, 
and  returning,  lie  on  a  bear's  skin,  spread  on  the  damp 
ground,  exposed  to  every  blast  through  the  open  sides, 
and  to  every  shower  through  the  open  roof  of  nis  dwell- 
ing, which  is  never  attempted  to  be  closed  until  the  ap- 
proach of  winter,  and  often  not  then.  Under  such  ex- 
treme toil  and  exposure,  many  of  the  settlers  speedily 
perish. 

Sometimes  he  has  to  carry  his  grain  fifty  miles  to  a 
mill  to  be  ground,  and  wait  there  some  days,  till  his 
turn  comes.  These  difficulties  of  course,  diminish,  as 
the  settlements  thicken ;  and  the  number  of  emigrants 
increases  each  successive  year,  with  incredible  rapidity. 
Land  cleared,  commands  from  twenty  to  thirty  dollars 
an  acre ;  and  thus,  in  the  course  of  the  last  fifteen  years, 
a  tract  of  country  four  times  as  large  as  the  British 
Isles,  has  been  decupled  in  value.  The  towns  in  the 
western  country,  as  is  particularly  the  case  with  Zanes- 
ville,  Lancaster,  and  Chilicothe,  in  Ohio,  are  often  situa- 
ted without  any  regard  to  the  health  of  the  inhabitants, 


430  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

provided  they  be  well  located  for  profit ;  gain  being  the 
chief  object  of  pursuit  with  our  American  adventurers. 
Cincinnati  itself,  stands  too  low  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio ;  its  lower  parts  being  within  reach  of  the  spring 
floods.  But  it  has  grown,  as  by  enchantment,  and  pro- 
mises soon  to  become  one  of  the  first  cities  of  the  west. 
Within  the  little  space  of  five  years,  the  greatest  part 
of  its  present  dimensions  and  wealth  has  been  produced. 

It  exhibits  now,  where,  within  the  memory  of  man, 
stood  only  one  rude  cabin,  several  hundreds  of  commo- 
dious, handsome  brick  houses,  spacious  and  busy  markets, 
substantial  public  buildings,  thousands  of  industrious 
thriving  inhabitants,  gay  carriages,  and  elegant  females, 
shoals  of  craft  on  the  river,  incessant  enlarging  and  im- 
provement of  the  town,  a  perpetual  influx  of  strangers 
and  travellers ;  all  sprung  up  from  the  bosom  of  the 
woods,  as  it  were  but  yesterday.  Twenty  years  since, 
the  immense  region  comprising  the  States  of  Ohio  and 
Indiana,  numbered  only  thirty  thousand  souls,  less  than 
are  now  contained  in  the  little  county  of  Hamilton,  in 
which  Cincinnati  stands. 

Probably  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when  the  chief 
intercourse  with  Europe,  will  no  longer  be  through  the 
Atlantic  States,  but  DC  carried  on  through  the  great 
rivers,  which  communicate  by  the  Mississippi,  with  the 
ocean,  at  New-Orleans ;  in  consequence  of  the  ascend- 
ing navigation  of  these  streams  being  subdued  by  the 
power  of  steam. 

Full  two  thousand  boatmen  are  regularly  employed 
on  the  Ohio ;  and  are  proverbially  ferocious  and  profli- 
gate. The  settlers  along  the  line  of  this  great  naviga- 
tion, exhibit  similar  habits ;  and  profligacy  and  fierceness 
appear  to  characterize  the  population  on  the  banks  of 
these  mighty  rivers.  Indiana  is  more  recently  settled 
than  Ohio,  and  its  settlers  superior  in  rank  and  charac- 
ter; the  first  founders  of  Ohio  being  very  needy  adven- 
turers. The  inhabitants  of  Indiana  have  generally 
brought  with  them  from  their  parent  States,  habits  of 
comfort,  and  the  means  of  procuring  the  conveniences 
of  life.  They  are  orderly,  peaceable  citizens,  respect 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


431 


and  obey  the  laws,  are  kind  and  neighbourly  to  each 
other,  and  hospitable  to  strangers.  The  mere  hunters 
who  rely  for  subsistence  on  their  rifle,  and  a  scanty  cul- 
tivation of  corn,  and  live  in  a  state  of  poverty  and  pri- 
vation nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  Indians,  always  retire 
at  the  approach  of  the  regular  settlers,  and  keep  them- 
selves on  the  outside  of  the  cultivated  farms. 

Then  is  no  striking  difference  in  the  general  deport- 
ment and  appearance,  of  the  great  body  of  Americans 
in  the  towns,  from  Norfolk  in  Virginia,  to  Madison  in  In- 
diana. The  same  well-looking,  well-dressed,  tall,  stout 
men,  appear  every  where,  pretty  rmich  at  their  ease, 
shrewd  and  intelligent,  and  not  too  industrious.  When 
asked  why  they  do  not  employ  themselves  ?  they  answer, 
"  we  live  in  freedom,  we  need  not  work  like  the  Eng- 
lish;" as  if  idleness  itself,  were  not  the  worst  species 
of  slavery.  In  the  country  are  to  be  found  several  back- 
woodmen,  who  are  savage  and  fierce,  and  view  new- 
comers as  intruders.  They,  however,  must  quickly  yield 
to  the  rapid  growth  of  civilization.  The  great  body  of 
the  western  settlers,  are  beyond  all  comparison,  superior 
to  the  European  farmers  and  peasantry,  in  manners  and 
habits,  in  physical  capacity,  and  abundance,  and  above 
all,  in  intelligence,  and  political  independence. 

The  activity  nnd  enterprise  of  the  Americans,  far  ex- 
ceed those  of  any  other  people.  Travellers  continually 
are  setting  out  on  journeys  of  two  or  three  thousand 
miles,  by  boats,  on  horses,  or  on  foot,  without  any  appa- 
rent anxiety  or  deliberation.  Nearly  a  thousand  persons 
every  summer,  pass  down  the  Ohio,  as  traders  or  boat- 
men, and  return  on  foot ;  a  distance  by  water,  of  seven- 
teen hundred,  by  land,  of  a  thousand  miles. 

Many  go  down  to  New-Orleans  from  Pittsburgh,  an 
additional  five  hundred  miles,  by  water,  and  three 
hundred  by  land.  The  store  or  shop  keepers  «of  the 
western  towns  resort  to  Baltimore,  New- York,  and 
Philadelphia,  once  a  year,  to  lay  in  their  goods.  But 
in  a  short  time,  probably,  these  journeyings  eastward 
will  be  exchanged  for  visits  down  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi to  New-Orleans.  The  vast  and  growing  produce 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  the  western  States,  in  grain,  flour,  cotton,  sugar,  to- 
bacco, peltry,  lumber,  &c.  which  finds  a  ready  market 
at  New-Orleans,  will,  by  means  of  steamboat  navigation, 
be  returned  through  the  same  channel  in  the  manufac- 
tures and  luxuries  of  Europe  and  Asia,  to  supply  the 
constantly-increasing  demands  of  the  west,  and  render 
New-Orleans  one  of  the  greatest  commercial  cities  in 
the  universe. 

Learning,  taste,  and  science,  of  course,  have  not  yet 
made  much  headway  in  the  west;  their  reading  is,  in 
general,  confined  to  newspapers  and  political  pamphlets, 
a  little  history,*  and  less  religion ;  but  their  intellects  are 
keen,  vigorous,  and  active.  The  following  observations 
of  Mr.  Walsh,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  American  Re- 
gister, are  expressed  in  his  usual  style  of  felicitous  splen- 
dour:— "In  inspecting  the  schools  of  our  Western 
Country  we  are  alarmed  lest  the  population  should 
immeasurably  outgrow  the  means  of  instruction,  and  their 
intellectual  fall  far  short  of  their  numerical  weight  in 
our  national  councils.  But  the  apprehension  vanishes, 
in  a  great  degree,  before  the  activity,  the  emulation,  and 
the  sagacity  which  characterize  our  tramontane  bre- 
thren. The  force  with  which  the  mind  vegetates  among 
them  can  be  best  illustrated  by  the  growth  of  their 
plants  in  a  virgin  loarn.  All  the  faculties  knit,  spread, 
and  luxuriate,  vigorously  and  wildly,  as  the  branches 
of  their  sycamore.  This  intense  vitality  of  the  intellect, 
when  fed  by  science,  and  the  knowledge  of  mankind, 
must  give  the  most  splendid  results.  We  may  judge 
from  the  specimens  of  the  ore  which  we  have  seen  in 
Congress  what  the  metal  will  be  after  sublimation. ,  I 
must  confess  that  I  was  lost  in  admiration  at  the  pros- 
pects which  open  in  that  quarter  upon  the  pride  of  hu- 
man intelligence  and  power ;  it  is  a  perspective  of  which 
the  magnificence  can  be  credible  only  to  those  who 
have  made  their  examination  at  leisure  upon  the  spot, 
and  with  a  recollection  of  what  history  relates  as  to  the 
adolescence  of  the  mightiest  communities  mentioned  in 
its  annals.  At  a  distance  hardly  a  suspicion  is  entertain- 
ed of  the  promise — I  -should  say.  rather,  the  impending 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  433 

maturity  of  the  west.  It  is  a  great  empire,  lying,  as  it 
were,  in  ambush  for  mankind,  and  destined  to  explore 
all  parts  of  the  intellectual  world.  Liberal  education, 
by  which  I  mean  the  systematic  tuition  of  the  sciences 
and  classics,  is  there  exceedingly  backward;  but  the 
rudiments  of  mere  English  education  are  almost  uni- 
versal." 

Having  thus,  very  summarily,  glanced  at  the  morals, 
habits,  and  manners,  of  the  four  great  sections  of  the 
Union,  a  few  remarks  will  be  hazarded  as  applicable  to 
the  Americans,  generally,  in  their  national  capacity  and 
character. 

The  high  wages  of  labour,  the  abundance  of  every 
kind  of  manual  and  mechanical  employment,  the  plenty 
of  provisions,  the  vast  quantity  and  low  price  01  lana, 
all  contribute  to  produce  a  healthy,  strong,  and  vigorous 
population.  Four-fifths  of  our  people  are  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits,  and  the  great  majority  of  these  are 
proprietors  of  the  soil  which  they  cultivate.  In  the  in- 
tervals of  toil  their  amusements  consist  chiefly  of  hunting 
and  shooting,  in  the  woods,  or  on  the  mountains;  whence 
they  acquire  prodigious  muscular  activity  and  strength. 
We  have  no  game  laws,  such  as  exist  in  Europe,  to  pro- 
hibit the  possession  and  use  of  firearms  to  the  great 
body  of  the  people.  Our  boys  carry ,  a  gun  almost  as 
soon  as  they  can  walk ;  and  the  habitual  practice  of 
shooting  at  a  target,  with  the  rifle,  renders  the  Ameri- 
cans the  most  unerring  marksmen,  and  the  most  deadly 
musketry  in  the  world ;  as  was  singularly  evidenced  at 
Bunker's  Hill,  in  the  commencement  of  the  revolutionary 
conflict,  and  at  New-Orleans,  at  the  close  of  the  last 
war.  Every  male,  from  the  age  of  eighteen  to  forty- 
five,  is  liable  to  be  enrolled  in  the  militia;  of  which  the 
President's  Message  of  the  2d  of  December,  1817,  in- 
forms us  the  United  States  have  now  eight  hundred 
thousand.  These  men  make  the  best  materials  for  a 
regular  army,  as  they  learn  the  use  of  arms  in  platoons, 
and  the  elements  of  military  discipline,  in  their  militia 
exercises  and  drills.  The  Americans  are  excellent  en- 
gineers and  artillerists,  and  serve  their  guns  well,  both 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

in  the  field  and  on  the  flood,  as  their  enemies  can  testily — 
whereas,  the  people  in  Europe  are  not  suffered  to  be 
familiar  with  the  use  of  arms ;  whence  neither  their 
seamen  nor  their  soldiers  fire  with  any  thing  lik«  the 
precision  and  execution  of  the  American  army  and 
navy. 

Thus  the  people  of  the  United  States  possess,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  the  physical  elements  of  national  great- 
ness and  strength.  Add  to  these,  the  general  preva- 
lence of  elementary  instruction,  which  enables  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  to  develope  their  natural  faculties 
and  powers,  ana  capacitates  them  for  undertaking  any 
employment,  success  in  which  depends  upon  shrewd- 
ness, intelligence,  and  skill;  whence  their  singular  inge- 
nuity in  mechanical  and  manual  operations,  and  their 
sound  understanding,  enterprise,  and  perseverance  in 
the  practical  concerns  of  life.  And  to  crown  all,  the 
political  sovereignty  of  the  nation  residing  in  the  people, 
gives  them  a  personal  confidence,  self-possession,  and 
elevation  of  character,  unknown  and  unattainable  in  any 
other  country,  and  under  any  other  form  of  government ; 
and  which  renders  them  quick  to  perceive,  and  prompt 
to  resent  and  punish  any  insult  offered  to  individual  or 
national  honour.  Whence  in  the  occupations  of  peace, 
and  the  achievements  of  war,  the  Americans  average  a 
greater  aggregate  of  effective  force,  physical,  intellec- 
tual, and  moral,  than  ever  has  been  exhibited  by  a  given 
number  of  any  other  people,  ancient  or  modern.  Indi- 
viduals, in  other  countries,  may,  and  do  exhibit  as  much 
bodily  activity  and  strength,  as  much  intellectual  acute- 
ness  and  vigour,  as  much  moral  force  and  elevation,  as 
can  be  shown  forth  by  any  American  individuals ;  but 
no  country  can  display  such  a  population,  in  mass,  as  are 
now  quickening  the  United  States  with  their  prolific  en- 
ergy, and  ripening  fast  into  a  substance  of  power,  every 
movement  of  which  will  soon  be  felt  in  its  vibrations  to 
the  remotest  corners  of  the  earth. 

Sagacity  and  shrewdness  are  the  peculiar  character- 
istics of  American  intellect,  and  were  in  nothing  more 
pre-eminent,  than  in  the  advice  of  President  Washing- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  435 

ton's  secretary  of  the  navy,  that  the  United  States  should 
build  their  ships  nominally  of  the  same  rate  with  those 
of  Europe,  but  really  of  greater  strength,  of  more  speed, 
tonnage,  and  guns,  than  the  corresponding  classes  of 
European  vessels,  that  they  might  ensure  victory  over 
an  enemy  of  equal,  or  nearly  equal  force,  and  escape, 
by  superior  sailing,  any  very  unequal  conflict.  This 
was  good  policy ;  as  it  served  materially  to  raise  the 
naval  character  of  the  country,  to  lessen  that  of  Eng- 
land, and  to  put  out  of  use  and  service  the  European 
navies,  and  compel  other  nations  to  construct  their  ships 
anew,  after  the  American  model.  This  policy  is  still 
persisted  in,  and  our  seventy-fours  are  equal  in  tonnage, 
bulk,  strength,  guns,  and  crew,  to  any  hundred  gun 
ships  in  the  British  navy.  The  American  crews  also, 
are  far  superior  to  those  of  Europe ;  every  seaman  is  a 
good  gunner,  and  the  ships  are  manned  with  picked 
men,  and  a  full  complement  of  real,  able-bodied,  skilful 
sailors;  whereas  the  European  ships  seldom  have  more 
than  one-third  of  their  crews  able  seamen,  the  other  two- 
thirds  generally  consisting  of  landsmen  and  boys.  When 
we  shall  have  a  navy,  as  large  as  we  ought  to  have,  in 
proportion  to  our  long  line  of  seacoast,  our  immense 
lake  and  river  navigation,  and  our  immense  and  rapidly- 
augmenting  resources,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  man  our 
fleets  and  squadrons  as  we  now  do  our  few  single  ships; 
nay,  it  is  doubtful,  if  they  can  be  manned  at  all,  without 
the  aid  of  impressment,  which,  indeed,  was  strongly  re- 
commended to  Congress  by  our  secretary  of  the  navy, 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  war,  as  the  only  possible 
mode  of  filling  up  the  complement  wanted  for  the  two 
and  twenty  vessels,  of  all  sizes,  frigates,  sloops,  and 
brigs,  which  we  then  had  in  commission. 

There  are,  however,  drawbacks  upon  the  high  ele- 
ments of  national  greatness  above  enumerated,  to  be 
found  in  some  of  our  political  and  social  institutions. 
For  example,  slavery  demoralizes  the  southern,  and  those 
of  the  western  States,  which  have  adopted  this  execra- 
ble system.  Lotteries  pervade  the  middle,  southern  and 
western  States,  and  spread  a  horribly-increasing  mass 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  idleness,  fraud,  theft,  falsehood,  and  profligacy 
throughout  all  the  classes  of  our  labouring  population. 
The  crying  iniquity  and  evil  of  this  system  are  compel- 
ling the  British  parliament  to  abolish  it  altogether  in 
that  country.  Our  state  legislatures  never  assemble 
without  augmenting  the  number  of  lotteries.  Our  fa- 
vourite scheme  of  substituting  a  state  prison  for  the  gal- 
lows is  a  most  prolific  mother  of  crime.  During  the  se- 
verity of  the  winter  season,  its  lodgings  and  accommo- 
dations are  better  than  those  of  many  of  our  paupers, 
who  are  thereby  incited  to  crime  in  order  to  mend 
their  condition.  And  the  pernicious  custom  of  pardon- 
ing the  most  atrocious  criminals,  after  a  short  residence 
in  the  state  prison,  is  continually  augmenting  our  flying 
squadrons  of  murderers,  housebreakers,  footpads, 
forgers,  highway  robbers,  and  swindlers  of  all  sorts. 
The  effect  of  Mr.  Bentham's  plan  of  a  penitentiary,  with 
its  panorama,  and  whispering  gallery,  is  not  known,  be- 
cause it  has  never  been  tried  in  this  country ;  but,  be- 
yond all  peradventure,  our  state  prisons,  as  at  present 
constituted,  are  grand  demoralizers  of  our  people. 

Our  State  insolvent  laws,  likewise,  (for  we  are  too 
patriotic  to  permit  Congress  to  pass  an  uniform  bankrupt 
law,  that  might  compel  our  merchants  to  pay  their 
foreign  creditors,)  acts  as  a  perpetual  bounty  for  disho- 
nesty and  fraud.  A  few  favoured  creditors,  by  whose 
false  representations  the  debtor  has  obtained  large  cre- 
dits, are  secured,  and  the  rest  of  the  creditors,  more 
especially  if  they  happen  to  be  British,  are  sure  to  get 
nothing.  The  insolvent  is  discharged,  as  a  matter  of 

O  O 

course,  from  all  responsibility,  and  left  at  liberty  to  re- 
new his  depredations  upon  the  property  of  others  ac- 
cording to  his  own  inclination,  experience,  and  dexterity. 
The  poor-law  system,  as  an  awful  encouragement  to 
pauperism  and  profligacy,  requires  no  further  comment. 
With  the  exception  of  forgery,  in  the  ingenuity  and  au- 
dacity of  which  our  native  Americans  far  surpass  all 
other  people,  and  for  which  our  state-prisons  do  not  af- 
ford even  a  palliative,  much  less  a  remedy,  the  foreigners 
and  free  blacks  are  the  most  numerous  and  atrocious  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

our  criminals.  The  "/OH;  Irish"  as  they  are  called, 
who  come  out  to  us  in  shoals  from  their  own  country, 
and  are  by  far  the  most  noxious  donation,  which  the 
United  States  receive  from  Britain,  fill  up  our  lowest 
departments  of  labour  in  the  manufactories,  or  the  ma- 
nual operations  of  our  large  cities,  as  hod-men,  porters, 
and  so  forth,  are  in  general,  rude,  intemperate,  and 
abandoned.  They  tenant  our  bridewells  and  state  pri- 
sons in  great  numbers.  The  next  in  the  scale  of  profli- 
gacy, as  criminals,  are  the  freed  negroes;  then  come 
foreigners,  other  than  Irish;  and  lastly,  our  own  native 
citizens,  of  which  few  find  their  way  into  confinement 
for  crime,  excepting,  as  before  stated,  for  forgery ;  of 
adepts  in  which  the  United  States  produce  a  greater 
number,  in  proportion  to  their  population,  than  any 
country  in  Europe ;  their  numbers,  however,  might  be 
materially  diminished,  if  our  legislators  could  be  per- 
suaded to  try  the  experiment  of  the  gallows  upon  them. 

The  prevailing  vice  throughout  the  Union,  excepting 
New-England,  is  immoderate  drinking;  encouraged 
doubtless,  by  the  relaxing  heats  of  the  climate,  in  the 
southern,  middle,  and  western  States,  by  the  high  wages 
of  labour,  and  by  the  absence  of  all  restriction,  in  the 
shape  of  excise,  or  internal  duty.  Not  only  our  labour- 
ers generally,  but  too  many  of  our  farmers,  merchants, 
and  other  classes  of  the  community,  are  prone  to  a  per- 
nicious indulgence  in  spirituous  liquors. 

The  alarming  increase  of  pauperism,  drunkenness, 
and  general  profligacy,  in  the  city  of  New-York,  has 
induced  our  most  respectable  citizens  of  all  classes,  to 
appoint  a  committee  to  examine  into  the  causes,  and  de- 
vise the  means  of  checking  this  great  national  evil,  which 
menaces  the  very  existence  of  our  social  fabric.  This 
committee  is  now  in  session ;  and  every  succeeding  day 
presents  them  with  an  accumulating  mass  of  facts,  all 
conspiring  to  show  forth  the  loathsome  deformity  of  our 
city,  with  respect  to  its  rapidly  augmenting  poverty  and 
vice.  In  the  year  1817,  our  Corporation  expended  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  the  poor  law  sys- 


438  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tern ;  which  sum  is  in  addition  to  other  public  charities, 
as  the  hospital,  asylum  for  orphans,  widow's  society, 
charity  schools,  &c.  and  in  addition  to  the  private  cha- 
rities, which  in  this  city  are  numerous  and  expensive. 
Indeed,  the  Americans,  generally,  are  a  charitable  bene- 
volent people,  both  in  private  and  in  public.  The  city 
of  New-York,  has  within  a  few  days  past,  raised  five 
thousand  dollars  for  the  sufferers  by  the  late  fire  at  St. 
John's,  in  Newfoundland.  And  Boston,  with  only  one- 
third  of  the  New-York  population,  subscribed  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  same  object.  But  Boston  has 
always  been  peculiarly  munificent ;  witness  a  few  years 
since,  when  some  of  her  principal  citizens  subscribed 
twelve  thousand  dollars  for  the  support  of  the  widow 
and  children  of  the  British  Consul  for  that  district,  who 
had  died  in  indigent  circumstances. 

In  consequence  of  the  extreme  suffering  of  the  poor 
in  the  city  of  New-York,  during  the  winter  of  181b-17, 
in  January,  1817,  a  large  meeting  of  the  citizens  was 
convened  for  the  purpose  of  devising  some  means  of  im- 
mediate relief  for  their  brethren  in  affliction.  Commit- 
tees were  appointed,  in  each  ward  of  the  city,  to  raise 
money  by  subscription,  and  administer  to  the  more 
pressing  wants  of  me  dependent  classes  of  the  communi- 
ty. Six  thousand  dollars  were  instantly  raised,  and  en- 
tirely consumed  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  ;  so  prodi- 
gious was  the  number  of  distressed  applicants  for  food, 
fuel,  and  clothing.  Indeed,  the  number  of  indigent 
poor,  destitute  of  all  the  first  necessaries  of  life,  as 
covering,  provisions,  fuel,  lodging,  upon  careful  exami- 
nation, was  found  to  far  exceed  that  of  any  former  pe- 
riod of  distress.  The  several  committees  faithfully  dis- 
charged their  important  but  painful  duties  ;  they  visited 
the  habitation  of  every  family  that  applied  for  relief.  It 
was  not  possible  for  any  city  in  Europe — for  London, 
for  Paris,  for  Dublin  itself — even  at  that  awful  hour  of 
universal  distress  and  visitation,  to  exhibit  a  greater  pro- 
portional number  of  wretched  objects,  sunk  to  the  lowest 
pitch  of  barren  sorrow  and  destitution,  than  were  ex- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

posed  to  the  astonished  view  of  the  various  committees, 
in  their  rounds  of  inquiry  through  the  city  of  New- 
York. 

Full  fifteen  thousand  men,  women  and  children,  during 
that  season,  received  aid  from  the  hand  of  public  and 
private  charity;  that  is  to  say,  about  one-seventh  of  the 
whole  population  of  our  city.  It  raised  a  cry  of  alarm 
and  horror  throughout  all  the  corners  of  their  extended 
empire,  when,  in  the  year  1816,  it  was  discovered  that 
one-ninth  of  the  population  of  the  British  isles  was  re- 
duced to  a  state  of  pauperage  and  dependence  on  the 
bounty  of  others.  Ought  such  to  be  the  condition  of 
the  mass  of  the  people  in  any  part  of  the  United  States ; 
where  a  comparatively  small  population  is  spread  over 
an  immense  territory,  blessed  with  a  fertile  soil  and 
genial  clime;  where  the  burden  of  government  expendi- 
ture is  scarcely  felt ;  where  the  national  debt  is  trifling, 
and  the  taxes  nothing;  where  there  are  no  tithes ;  arid 
where  the  demand  for  agricultural  labour  is  constantly 
outrunning  its  supply  ? 

It  is  a  lamentable  and  alarming  fact,  that  the  number 
of  destitute  poor  in  the  city  of  New-York  has  averaged 
an  annual  augmentation  far  exceeding  the  rate  of  its 
actual  increase  of  population  for  several  years  past; 
more  especially  since  the  winter  when  the  battery,  at 
the  confluence  of  the  North  and  East  rivers,  was  broken 
up,  and  distributed  for  firewood  amongst  the  indigent, 
and  the  Corporation  proclaimed  that  it  would  give  food 
and  fuel,  at  the  Almsnouse,  to  all  distressed  applicants. 
This  is  the  very  essence  of  the  impracticable  folly,  and 
positive  evil  of  the  poor-law  system,  which  promises 
work  and  support  to  all  that  want ;  as  if  it  were  possi- 
ble for  any  human  scheme  to  create  either  food  or  em- 
ployment where  neither  is  to  be  found  in  existence  ! 

It  is  not,  however,  to  be  dissembled,  that  a  large  pro- 
portion of  our  New-York  paupers  are  foreigners,  chiefly 
from  Europe,  and  some  from  the  neighbouring  States 
and  towns.  Nor  can  it  be  concealed,  that  the  leprosy 
of  wickedness  and  crime  has  tainted  the  lower  class  of 
our  citizens  in  a  most  awful  degree ;  as  was  to  be  ex- 


440  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

pected,  in  consequence  of  their  progressively  increasing 
pauperism.  It  will  scarcely  be  credited  in  Europe,  that 
a  large  proportion  of  these  profligate  paupers  are  fret 
and  independent  voters  at  our  elections,  for  charter- 
officers,  for  State  Representatives,  and  for  Congress- 
men ! 

The  several  committees  laboured  to  investigate  the 
causes  which  have  produced  the  present  wretched  and 
degraded  condition  of  the  poor  in  our  city.  Some  of 
the  distress,  undoubtedly,  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  vast 
influx  of  indigent,  and  not  immaculate,  foreigners  ;  to  the 
present  depressed  condition  of  commerce  and  manufac- 
tures ;  to  the  prodigious  number  of  benevolent  societies 
which  have,  with  the  best  and  most  charitable  inten- 
tions, undesignedly  offered  a  standing  bounty  for  the 
continual  increase  of  needy  applicants;  and  to  some 
other  causes,  not  proper,  perhaps,  now  to  be  enumera- 
ted, but  which  our  legislators  and  city  magistrates  can 
easily  remove  if  they  will ;  and,  perhaps,  to  the  natural 
tendency  of  human  society  to  deteriorate,  if  not  con- 
stantly watched  and  guarded  by  religious  and  moral 
culture.  A  greater  portion  of  the  distress,  probably,  is 
occasioned  by  our  system  of  poor-laws,  which  we  have 
borrowed  from  England.  The  British  Review  for  No- 

C3 

vember,  1817,  contains  an  elaborate,  masterly,  and  tem- 
perate exposition  of  the  evils  which  that  system  has 
burned,  in  characters  of  the  nether  fire,  into  the  heart 
and  vitals,  the  body,  soul,  and  spirit  of  the  English  po- 
pulation. 

But  beyond  all  controversy,  the  most  fertile  source  of 
the  present  unparalleled  distress  among  the  poor  of  the 
city  of  New-York,  is  the  general,  not  to  say  universal, 
use  of  spirituous  liquors  by  the  lower  orders  of  the  com- 
munity, of  each  sex  and  every  age.  There  are  nearly 
three  thousand  houses  licensed  to  sell  poison  to  the  poor, 
in  the  shape  of  alcohol ;  in  addition  to  which  there  are 
great  numbers  of  cellars  and  vaults,  where  ardent  spirits 
are  vended  without  license.  And  do  we  wonder  at  the 
rapid  augmentation  of  mendicity  and  crime  in  this  city, 
when  there  are  so  many  charnel  houses  of  industry. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  44  j 

health,  religion,  and  morals  open  day  and  night,  and 
every  hour,  for  the  consignment  of  their  victims  to  an 
untimely  grave  ? 

By  information  from  the  Mayor  of  Philadelphia,  com- 
municated to  a  committee  of  our  Humane  Society,  in 
December,  1809,  it  appears,  that  there  were  then  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia  only  one  hundred  and  ninety  licensed 
houses;  and  in  the  whole  county  of  Philadelphia,  in- 
cluding the  suburbs  of  the  city,  several  considerable 
towns  and  villages,  and  a  large  tract  of  country,  con- 
taining altogether  a  population  of  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  souls,  only  two  hundred  and  forty 
houses  licensed  to  sell  spirits.  Since  that  period  up  to 
the  present  hour,  the  magistracy  of  Philadelphia  have 
been  most  laudably  employed  in  diminishing  even  that 
comparatively  moderate  number,  which  comprehends 
all  the  taverns,  beer-houses,  groceries,  and  other  places, 
licensed  to  sell  spirituous  liquors  by  retail.  So  that  our 
sister  city  of  Philadelphia  permits  less  than  one-tenth  of 
inflammable  poison,  in  proportion  to  her  population,  to 
be  distributed  among  her  citizens,  in  comparison  of  the 
heedless  prodigality  with  which  the  official  guardians  of 
New- York  waste  the  health  and  integrity  of  the  poor 
committed  to  their  charge. 

Nay,  even  in  London,  that  mart  of  all  the  world,  it 
appears  from  a  recent  report  on  the  mendicity  of  the 
British  empire  to  the  House  of  Commons,  that  there 
are  no  more  than  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty 
houses  licensed  to  sell  spirits ;  and  that  number  is  com- 
plained of  as  being  too  great  for  a  city  and  its  neighbour- 
hood, containing  about  one  million,  three  hundred  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  and  continually  receiving  into  its  capa- 
cious bosom  a  prodigious  influx  of  profligacy  and  crime, 
from  every  tongue,  and  every  nation,  and  every  quarter 
of  the  globe.  The  population  of  New-York  is  not  much 
more  ^than  one  hundred  thousand ;  and  therefore  it  is 
necessary  for  her,  young  as  she  is  in  her  national  career, 
and  simple  as  she  is  in  all  her  forms  and  habits  of  social 
institution,  to  reduce  the  licensed  houses  to  at  least 

56 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

three  hundred,  in  order  to  reach  the  level,  in  incentives 
to  iniquity-,  of  an  overgrown  metropolis,  hoary  with  age, 
arid  presenting  the  most  artificial  and  complicated  state 
of  society  ever  yet  exhibited  in  the  history  of  the  human 
race. 

On  a  very  moderate  computation,  the  licensed  houses 
in  New-York  sell  a  yearly  aggregate  of  spirits,  amount- 
ing to  three  millions  of  dollars.  One-tenth  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  whole  State  resides  in  this  city,  and,  allow- 
ing that  they,  owing  to  the  greater  tendencies  of  a 
crowded  city  to  idleness  and  profligacy,  consume  as 
much  as  all  the  other  nine-tenths,  the  annual  expendi- 
ture of  our  State  in  spirituous  liquors  will  amount  to  six 
millions  of  dollars.  Now  it  is  an  enormous  evil,  that  so 
large  a  portion  of  our  annual  income  should  be  diverted 
from  the  service  of  productive  industry;  from  adminis- 
tering to  the  agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures,  con- 
veniences, comforts,  and  embellishment  of  the  State. 
The  sum  so  expended  is  about  equal  to  a  capitation 
tax  of  six  dollars  upon  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
throughout  the  State.  But  the  mere  detraction  of  so 
much  money  annually  from  the  public  service,  from  pri- 
vate comfort,  from  social  ornament,  is,  by  no  means,  the 
freatest  evil  resulting  from  suck  an  application  of  the 
mds  of  labour.  The  habitual  use  of  ardent  spirits 
enervates  the  bodily  frame,  renders  it  irritable,  and 
liable  to  disease,  lays  the  sure  foundation  of  constitu- 
tional decay,  and  premature  death ;  it  dissipates  all  the 
powers  of  the  mind  in  shapeless  idleness,  quenches  the 
fires  of  genius,  and  puts  out  the  lights  of  learning;  it 
corrupts  and  debases  the  whole  moral  nature  of  man ; 
sears  up  his  conscience  against  every  obligation  of  duty, 
stifles  the  voice  of  affection,  extinguishes  in  his  bosom 
all  the  charities  of  parent,  child,  and  brother ;  eradicates 
every  principle  and  every  sentiment  of  religion ;  and 
renders  him  an  incarnate  fiend,  ripe  for  the  perpetra- 
tion of  every  enormity  that  can  carry  anguish  and  ruin 
into  the  recesses  of  private  life,  and  convert  society 
itself  into  a  scene  of  rapine,  and  violence,  of  fraud,  in- 
justice, anarchy,  and  blood. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

This  evil  is  too  great,  too  deeply  rooted  in  the  habits 
and  passions  of  our  people,  for  individual  charity,  how- 
ever active  and  persevering,  to  remove,  or  even  sensibly 
to  diminish.  It  is  to  the  legislature  of  the  State  that  we 
must  look  for  a  remedy  to  an  evil,  which  is  eating,  like 
a  cankerworm  into  the  heart  of  the  community;  and 
rendering  that  structure  of  human  society,  which  is  so 
fair  and  glistening  in  its  exterior  form,  full  of  dead  mens' 
bones  and  all  uncleanness  within.  What  should  forbid 
our  legislature  ? — nay,  but  is  it  not  their  imperious  duty, 
instantly,  without  the  delay  of  a  moment,  as  they  regard 
the  welfare,  temporal  and  eternal,  of  the  people  com- 
mitted to  their  trust,  by  the  Governor  among  the  nations, 
to  put  a  stop  to  this  great  and  growing  evil,  by  the 
wise  and  wholesome  restraint  of  efficient  laws  ?  Can  it 
be  deemed  a  sufficient  objection  to  the  diminution  of 
these  receptacles  of  vice  and  misery,  that  such  a  mea- 
sure will  lessen  the  state  revenue?  Are  the  guardians 
of  the  commonwealth,  who  are  appointed  to  their  high 
office  for  the  express  purpose  of  promoting  the  well- 
being  of  the  people,  to  put  into  one  scale  a  little  paltry 
tax,  and  into  the  other  the  health,  the  industry,  the  mo- 
rals, the  prosperity,  the  happiness,  of  the  great  mass  01 
the  community,  and  make  their  miserable  pepper-corn 
of  revenue  weigh  the  heaviest  ?  But  for  a  moment,  put- 
ting aside  all  referencs  to  morality  and  religion,  which 
however  ought  always  to  be  the  most  powerful  and  con- 
clusive arguments  to  the  magistrates  of  a  Christian  coun- 
try, the  state  revenue  itself  may  be  infinitely  augmented 
by  the  increase  of  industry,  social  order,  public  and  pri- 
vate wealth,  which  would  instantly  spring  up  from 
amidst  the  ruins  of  the  present  demoralizing  system. 
Since  writing  the  above,  the  New-York  Committee  have 
published  a  Report,  in  which,  with  great  wisdom  and 
judgment  they  state  the  evils,  and  point  to  the  remedies 
of  pauperism. 

With  regard  to  the  manners  of  the  United  States, 
M.  Volney,  in  the  preface  to  his  view  of  this  coun- 
try, says,  "  that  he  would  dissuade  his  countrymen 
from  settling  here,  because,  although  many  facilities  and 
benefits  attend  the  establishment  of  Endish.  Scots,  Ger- 


444  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

mans  and  Hollanders,  from  the  resemblance  that  prevails 
between  their  manners  and  habits,  and  those  of  America, 
yet  there  are  disadvantages  and  obstacles  from  a  contra- 
riety in  these  respects,  attending  natives  of  France. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  social  forms  and  habits  of  the 
two  nations,  that  can  make  them  coalesce.  They  tax 
us  with  levity,  loquacity  and  folly,  while  we  reproach 
them  with  coldness,  reserve,  and  haughty  taciturnity ; 
\vith  despising  those  sedulous  and  engaging  civilities, 
•which  we  so  highly  value,  and  the  want  of  which  is  con- 
strued by  us  into  proofs  of  impoliteness  in  the  indivi- 
dual, or  of  barbarism  in  the  whole  society.  This  na- 
tional incivility  appears  to  flow  from  the  mutual  inde- 
pendence of  each  other,  and  the  general  equality,  as  to 
fortune  and  condition,  in  which  individuals  in  America 
are,  for  the  most  part,  placed." 

The  truth  however  is,  that  the  United  States  exhibit 
a  medium  of  manners,  between  the  rude  vulgarity  of  the 
lower  orders,  and  the  artificial  refinement  of  the  higher 
classes  in  Europe.  The  great  body  of  our  people  ex- 
hibit an  erect  manliness  of  behaviour,  equally  remote 
from  the  brutal  ferocity  of  a  revolutionary  ruffian,  and 
the  elaborate  politeness  of  a  petit  maitre.  The  only  ex- 
cessively polite  people  we  have  are  the  negroes,  who 
"  Sir  and  Madam"  each  other  everlastingly ;  and  know 
no  other  order  among  themselves  than  that  of  "  gentle- 
men and  ladies."1"1  Some  of  our  young  men  who  visit 
Europe,  on  their  return,  exhibit  what  they  call  fashion- 
able European  manners,  that  is  to  say,  a  studied  indif- 
ference to  all  persons  and  things,  as  if  politeness  could 
consist  in  the  apparent  absence  of  all  sense  and  feeling. 
These  travellers,  however,  are  soon  compelled,  either 
to  resume  their  native  habits  and  manners,  or  to  revisit 
Europe,  or  to  lounge  away  their  lives  in  solitary  idle- 
ness. For  our  people  are  almost  universally  employed 
in  some  calling;  the  southern  planters  are  lawyers  and 
politicians,  the  northern,  middle,  and  western  States, 
are  employed  in  every  variety  of  pursuit.  And  it  gene- 
rally happens  that  the  sons  of  our  opulent  citizens  be- 
come idle,  good  for  nothing,  and  eventually  paupers ; 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

while  needy  adventurers,  from  the  country,  urged  by 
the  twofold  stimulus  of  necessity  and  ambition,  gradual- 
ly, win  the  heights  of  political,  legal,  and  commercial 
eminence. 

Our  wealthier  classes,  particularly  in  the  large  cities, 
exhibit  as  great  an  average  of  real  politeness  and  good 
breeding,  as  the  corresponding  orders  in  Europe  :  for 
example,  the  middle  class  of  Britain,  whose  intelligence, 
good  manners  and  virtue,  have  always  been  reckoned 
the  bulwark  and  ornament  of  the  empire ;  and  which 
includes  within  its  range  the  learned  professions,  the 
army  and  navy,  the  merchants,  agriculturists,  and  men 
of  letters.  The  incomes  of  our  "decent  livers,"  as  they 
are  called,  reach  from  five  hundred  to  ten  thousand 
sterling  a  year;  although  very  few  individuals  in  the 
Union  possess  revenues  so  large  as  the  latter  sum  indi- 
cates. Our  American  ladies  are,  in  their  persons  love- 
ly, in  their  manners  easy  and  graceful,  in  conversation 
lively  and  sensible,  in  their  various  relations  of  wives, 
daughters,  and  mothers,  exemplary  and  excellent.  The 
aspect  of  society  in  the  United  States  is  somewhat 
clouded  by  the  marvellous  facility  with  which  foreigners, 
of  every  sort,  species,  and  complexion,  gain  access  to 
our  most  respectable  circles.  A  pattern-card,  a  pair  of 
saddle-bags,  and  a  letter  of  credit,  appear  to  be  all  the 
qualifications  necessary  to  enable  the  agents  of  Euro- 
pean traders  to  mingle  intimately  with  company  in  Ame- 
rica, far  superior  to  any  that  they  could  ever  command 
in  their  own  country. 

Although  the  origin  of  the  American  people  is  not 
homogenous,  yet  the  primary  causes  of  their  migration 
hither  were  similar ;  and  the  liberal  freedom  of  then- 
social  institutions,  their  general  intelligence,  and  com- 
mon interests,  have  approximated  their  habits  and  man- 
ners so  much,  that,  notwithstanding  a  comparatively 
small  population  is  spread  over  an  extensive  territory, 
there  are  fewer  provincial  diversities  of  character  and 
behaviour  in  the  United  States  than  in  any  other  coun- 
try. Nine-tenths  of  our  people  speak  the  same  lan- 
guage, without  any  variety  of  dialect;  which  is,  in  itself, 


446  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

a  bond  of  national  unity,  not  to  be  found  in  any  part  of 
Europe ;  every  different  section  of  which,  even  in  the 
same  nation,  speaks  its  own  peculiar  provincial  patois. 
The  laws,  government,  policy,  interests,  religion,  and 
opinions  of  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  different  States  es- 
sentially correspond  and  coincide.  They  are  all  bound 
together  by  the  same  mighty  bands  of  political  and 
commercial  liberty.  Our  civil  institutions,  nd  religious 
toleration,  tend  to  produce  habits  of  intellig  nee  ;  nd  in- 
dependence ;  we  have  no  division  into  the  higher,  middle, 
and  lower  orders ;  we  have  no  grandees,  and  we  have 
no  populace  ;  we  are  all  people. 

jVatural  equality  we  cannot  have,  because  some  men 
will  be  taller,  or  stronger,  or  richer,  or  wiser  than 
others,  in  spite  of  every  effort  of  human  legislation.  But 
political  equality  we  possess  in  a  degree  far  superior  to 
what  has  been  known  in  any  other  country,  ancient  or 
modern.  All  our  civil  and  religious  institutions  are 
framed  in  the  spirit  of  social  equality.  By  the  high 
wages  of  labour,  the  abundance  and  facility  of  subsist- 
ence, the  general  diffusion  of  elementary  education^  and 
the  right  of  universal  suffrage,  every  man,  not  black,  is 
a  citizen,  sensible  of  his  own  personal  importance.  Not 
more  than  one  million  of  our  people  reside  in  the  large 
cities  and  towns  ;  the  other  nine  millions  live  on  farms 
or  in  villages ;  most  of  them  are  lords  of  the  soil  they 
cultivate,  and  some  are  wealthy.  This  subdivision  of 
property,  operating  as  a  kind  of  Agrarian  law,  and  aided 
bv  the  abolition  of  the  rights  of  primogeniture,  the  re- 
peal of  the  statutes  of  entails,  and  the  equal  distribution 
of  land  and  money  among  all  the  children,  gives  an  in- 
dividual independence  and  an  equality  of  manner  to  our 
population,  unknown  in  Europe ;  every  country  of  which 
is  yet  deeply  scarred  by  the  stabs  and  gashes  of  baro- 
nial dominion  and  feudal  vassalage. 

The  personal  independence  which  every  one  in  the 
United  States  may  enjoy,  in  any  calling,  by  ordinary  in- 
dustry, and  common  prudence,  is  in  itself  one  of  the 
greatest  of  political  blessings.  So  long  as  a  man  obeys 
that  injunction  of  Scripture,  to  "owe  no  one  any  thing," 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

(and  in  this  country  debt  must  arise  from  idleness,  or 
vice,  or  misfortune,  or  folly,)  he  is  as  free  as  the  air  he 
breathes ;  he  knows  no  superior,  not  even  the  President, 
whom  his  vote  has  either  helped  or  hindered  in  the 
career  of  exaltation.  But  this  personal  independence 
can  only  be  supported  by  a  man's  cleaving  exclusively 
to  his  own  calling,  and  diligently  discharging  its  duties 
and  demands;  for  the  moment  ne  wants  the  aid  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  in  any  capacity  or  character,  and  has 
competitors  for  that  aid,  he  is  subjected  to  a  scene  of  in- 
trigue, electioneering,  influence,  and  cabal,  that  would 
not  have  disgraced  a  conclave  of  cardinals,  when  the 
popedom  was  worth  having. 

Generally  speaking,  those  are  most  attached  to  a 
country  who  own  a  part  of  its  soil,  and  have  therefore 
a  stake  in  its  welfare.  But  a  great  majority  of  the 
American  people  have  this  stake.  In  other  countries 
low  wages,  and  unremitted  labour  stupefy  the  under- 
standing, break  the  spirit,  and  vitiate  the  virtue  of  the 
great  body  of  the  population.  In  the  United  States  the 
price  of  labour  is  high,  and  constant  toil  merely  optional ; 
but  the  ocean  and  the  land  offer  continual  incitements  to 
industry,  by  opening  inexhaustible  regions  of  enterprise 
and  wealth.  In  consequence,  all  is  motion ;  every  one 
follows  some  vocation,  and  the  whole  country  is  in  per- 
petual progress ;  each  industrious  individual  feels  him- 
self rising  in  the  scale  of  opulence  and  importance ;  and 
the  universal  nation,  growing  with  the  growth  of  its 
aspiring  children,  hastens  onward,  with  continually-aug- 
menting velocity,  towards  the  maturity  of  resistless 
strength  and  unrivalled  power. 

A  people  so  lately  sprung  from,  and  so  closely  con- 
nected with,  Europe,  must  greatly  resemble  it  in  man- 
ners. But  the  universality  of  employment,  and  general 
equality  of  fortune,  enable,  and  cause  the  Americans  to 
steer  equally  clear  of  the  luxurious  refinement  and  the 
rude  vulgarity  of  Europe.  Hospitality  and  politeness, 
are  the  common  virtues  of  the  United  States.  Mr. 
Birkbeck  was  peculiarly  struck  with  the  urbanity  and 
civilization  that  prevail  throughout  this  country,  even  in 


448  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

situations  the  most  remote  from  our  large  cities.  In  his 
journey  from  Norfolk,  on  the  Virginia  coast,  to  the 
heart  of  the  western  country,  he  did  not  for  a  moment 
lose  sight  of  the  manners  of  civilized  life.  He  found 
neither  the  excess  of  artificial  refinement,  nor  the  ex- 
treme of  vulgarity,  which  exist  in  his  own  country.  In 
every  department  of  common  life,  he  here  saw  employ- 
ed persons  far  superior  in  education,  habits,  and  manners, 
to  the  corresponding  classes  in  England.  He  complains 
however,  that  the  taverns  in  the  great  towns  east  of  the 
Alleghany  mountains,  which  lay  in  their  route  westward, 
afforded  nothing  corresponding  with  their  habits  and 
notions  of  convenient  accommodation,  except  the  ex- 
pense. 

He  says,  that  every  thing  in  these  places  is  grega- 
rious; every  thing  is  public  by  day  and  by  night;  for 
even  the  night  affords  no  privacy  in  an  American  inn. 
Whatever  be  the  number  of  guests,  they  must  eat  in 
mass,  and  sleep  in  mass.  Three  times  a  day,  the  great 
bell  rings,  and  a  hundred  people  rush  from  all  quarters, 
to  eat  a  hurried  meal,  composed  of  fifty  different  dishes. 
The  breakfast  consists  of  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl,  bread, 
butter,  eggs,  coffee,  and  tea;  the  dinner  resembles 
breakfast,  with  the  omission  of  tea  and  coffee,  and  the 
addition  of  fermented  liquors ;  the  supper  is  a  repetition 
of  the  breakfast.  After  which,  the  guests  are  crammed 
into  rooms  crowded  with  beds,  like  the  wards  of  an 
hospital ;  where  they  undress  in  public,  and  generaljy 
receive  a  human  partner  in  their  bed,  in  addition  to  the 
myriads  of  gentlemen  in  brown  livery,  who  occupy  every 
house  on  a  perpetual  lease.  Into  the  horrors  of  the 
kitchen  of  an  American  inn,  with  its  darkness,  and  ne- 
groes, and  dirt,  I  have  no  appetite  to  follow  Mr.  Birk- 
beck,  who  however,  accounts  properly,  for  the  independ- 
ent air  of  the  landlord,  so  entirely  in  contrast  with  the 
obsequious  civility  of  an  English  tavern-keeper,  by 
stating,  that  he  is  generally  a  man  of  property,  culti- 
vating his  own  farm,  and  a  general,  or  colonel,  or  at 
least,  a  captain  of  militia,  and,  consequently,  feels  him- 
self fully  as  great  as  the  guests  whom  he  entertains,  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED    STATES. 

behaves  rather  as  if  he  confers,  than  receives  a  favour, 
by  accommodating  them  and  their  attendants,  and  re- 
ceiving their  money. 

The  political  equality  which  pervades  the  United 
States,  opens  all  official  ranks  to  all  persons;  and  ac- 
cordingly, we  have  innkeepers,  and  tailors,  and  shoe- 
makers, and  retail  shop-keepers,  as  well  as  merchants, 
and  lawyers,  and  farmers,  among  our  generals  and  co- 
lonels ;  whence  arises  that  equal  air  of  demeanor  and 
manner,  that  so  much  surprises  Europeans  who  have 
been  accustomed  to  the  insolence  of  wealth  and  power 
on  one  hand,  and  to  the  servility  of  pauperism  and  de- 
pendence on  the  other.  Besides,  the  Europeans  gene- 
rally do  not  receive  so  much  civility  from  our  taverners, 
because  they  are  very  apt  to  insult  us.  by  exaggetated 
comparisons  of  the  marvellous  superiority  of  European 
wisdom,  convenience,  comfort,  elegance,  and  refinement, 
to  those  of  the  United  States;  and  an  American  citizen, 
who  is  taught  from  his  cradle  to  despise  the  nations  of 
Europe,  as  paupers  and  slaves,  is  not  very  nice  in  showing 
his  contempt  at  these  sublimated  parallels. 

in  another  part  of  his  notes,  Mr.  Birkbeck  proceeds 
to  offer  the  result  of  his  own  observations  on  the  man- 
ners of  that  section  of  the  Union  which  he  saw ;  namely, 
part  of  the  southern,  and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  west- 
ern division.  He  thinks,  that  as  the  Americans  have  no 
central  focus  of  fashion,  or  local  standard  of  politeness, 
no  remote  situation  affords  any  apology  for  sordid  appa- 
rel or  coarse  behaviour;  and  he  found  no  examples  ot 
that  rural  simplicity,  that  embarrassed,  awkward,  sheep- 
ish air,  so  frequent  among  the  peasantry,  and  even  the 
farmers,  of  England.  This  self-possession,  he  attributes 
very  justly  to  the  political  equality  of  our  people ;  the 
consciousness  of  which,  accompanies  all  their  intercourse, 
and  operates  most  powerfully  on  the  manners  of  the 
lowest  class.  He  complains,  however,  that  cleanliness, 
in  house  and  person,  is  neglected  to  a  degree  quite  dis- 
gusting to  an  Englishman;  and  tells  of  court-houstt  in 
the  western  country,  used  as  places  of  worship,  in  which 

.r)7 


450  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UMTED  STATES?. 

all  kinds  of  filth  have  been  accumulating  ever  since  they 
were  built. 

The  truth  is,  the  people  of  the  southern  and  western 
States,  generally  speaking,  are  not  cleanly  either  in 
their  persons,  or  houses,  or  habits.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  New-England  and  middle  States  are,  in  general, 
given  to  cleanliness,  particularly  the  Dutch  settlers  and 
their  descendants.  There  is,  however,  one  very  filthy 
custom,  which  pervades  the  whole  Union ;  I  mean,  the 
habit  of  eating  and  smoking  tobacco.  Our  judges  and 
lawyers,  politicians  and  parsons,  doctors  and  merchants, 
army  and  navy,  farmers  and  mechanics,  in  a  word,  our 
whole  people,  from  the  President  of  the  United  States 
down  to  the  pauper  in  the  alms-house,  smoke  and  chew 
tobacco,  and  abundantly  eject  its  concocted  juice  in  ail 
places,  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances,  without 
any  remorse  of  conscience,  or  regard  for  the  white 
draperies  and  finer  sensibilities  of  our  most  delicate  ladies ; 
or  for  its  execrable  annoyance  to  all  those  who  did  not 
happen  to  be  cradled  in  America.  The  late  Mr.  Gou- 
verneur  Morris,  during  his  residence  abroad,  saw  that 
the  use  of  tobacco,  save  in  the  shape  of  snuff,  was  con- 
fined, in  Europe,  to  the  lowest  orders  of  soldiers  and 
sailors,  boors  and  mechanics.  On  his  return  home,  two 
of  his  male  cousins  began  to  question  him  on  European 
habits  and  manners,  keeping  him  all  the  while  under 
the  cross-fire  of  their  segars.  At  length  one  of  them 
said,  "  Mr.  Morris,  do  the  gentlemen  in  Europe  smoke 
much  ?"  "  Sir,"  replied  Mr.  Morris,  striking  his  jambc 
de  bois  sharply  on  me  ground,  "  Gentlemen  smoke  in  no 
country." 

The  amusements  of  the  Americans  do  not  exhibit  so 
ferocious  an  aspect  as  those  of  the  English  j  they  being 
more  addicted  to  dancing  and  music,  than  to  bull-bait- 
ing, cock-fighting,  and  boxing.  Not  that  the  English 
are,  really,  more  ferocious  than  the  American  people ; 
but  the  United  States  either  never  adopted,  or  have  laid 
aside,  certain  savage  customs  still  preserved  in  England. 
Theatrical  exhibitions,  balls,  routs,  the  sports  of  the 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

field  and  turf,  and  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  are  the 
chief  amusements  of  our  people,  and  conducted  much 
in  the  same  way  as  in  Europe;  from  which  quarter  we 
generally  import  our  players,  dancingmasters,  singers, 
and  musicians;  such  commodities,  as  yet,  making  no 
part  of  the  staple  of  the  United  States.  When  Pericles 
was  asked,  if  he  could  play  on  any  instrument,  he  an- 
swered, "  No,  I  cannot  fiddle,  but  1  can  make  a  little 
empire  a  great  one."  Our  routs  resemble  those  of  Lon- 
don; we  cram  a  hundred  people  into  a  room  not  large 
enough  to  contain  fifty ;  making  it,  as  an  Irish  member 
said  of  the  House  of  Commons,  after  the  union,  "  as 
full  as  it  can  hold,  and  fuller"  They  create  human  in- 
tercourse without  human  sympathy,  and  cut  down  all 
distinctions  of  talent  and  information  to  the  dead  level  of 
frivolous  vacuity.  They  seem  entirely  to  have  super- 
ceded,  in  our  large  cities,  the  good  old  family  way  of 
visiting  friends  and  acquaintance,  without  ceremony, 
and  without  a  tremendous  invitation  of  six  weeks  ahead. 
Marriages  in  the  United  States  are  earlier  than  in 
Europe ;  there  being  no  constraint  by  statute,  and  no 
fear  of  not  being  able  to  maintain  a  family  in  so  young 
a  country,  whose  extensive  territory  offers  an  abundant 

E  revision  to  every  species  of  industry,  when  regulated 
y  discretion.  Any  clergyman  of  any  sect,  or  any  jus- 
tice of  the  peace,  may  marry  any  couple  without  asking 
any  questions.  And,  notwithstanding  Dr.  Johnson's 
sarcasm,  "  That  marriages  are  made  in  haste,  and  re- 
pented of  at  leisure,"  celibacy  is  an  unnatural,  as  well 
as  an  unsocial  state ; 


"  For  earthlier  happy  is  the  rose  distill'd, 

Than  that  which  withering  on  the  virgin  thorn, 
Lives,  grows,  and  dies  in  single  blessedness." 


And,  however  the  yearnings  of  ambition,  or  the  pur- 
suits of  learning,  or  the  occupations  of  business  may,  for 
a  time,  absorb  a  vigorous  spirit,  yet  every  man,  in  whose 
heart  the  charities  of  life  are  not  extinguished,  nor  the 
milk  of  human  kindness  dried  up,  wishes,  before  he  falls 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

into  the  sere  and  yellow  leaf  of  autumn,  that  his  blood 
may  run  in  the  veins  of  some  living  thing;  and  that  his 
age  may  be  surrounded  by  those  whose  a  flection  and 
reverence  may  double  unto  him  the  delight  of  well- 
earned  reputation  and  honour.  For  all  the  purposes  of 
connubial  happiness,  early  marriages  are  best  fitted,  be- 
cause the  youthful  pair  have  time,  and  opportunity,  and 
power,  gradually,  to  mould  themselves  to  each  other's 
temper,  and  disposition,  and  habits,  and  manners; 
whereas,  later  marriages  require  much  good  temper, 
good  sense,  and,  above  all,  confirmed  domestic  habits 
on  both  sides,  to  render  the  union  happy ;  because  the 
character  of  both  parties  is  already  fixed,  arid  not  capa- 
|)le  of  that  flexile  adaptation  to  the  circumstances  of 
life,  so  characteristic  of  ardent  and  ingenuous  youth. 
Perhaps,  within  the  whole  compass  of  human  learning, 
there  is  not  a  more  pathetic  appeal  to  the  heart,  than 
when  Eliza  says  to  Dido,  "  Nee  dulces  natos,  Veneris 
nee  praemia  uoras." 

Marriages,  in  the  United  States,  are  not  only  con- 
tracted at  an  early  age,  but,  in  general,  from  disinter- 
ested motives.  Indeed,  owing  to  our  social  institutions 
and  habits,  individual  fortunes  are  seldom  sufficiently 
large,  compared  with  the  overgrown  family  opulence  of 
Europe,  to  induce  mere  money  matches,  where  the 
estates,  not  the  parties,  are  united.  There  is  no  fear 
with  us,  of  the  proverb,  so  commonly  levelled  in  Eng- 
land against  sentimental  affection,  that  love  in  a  cottage 
generally  ends  in  the  cottage  without  love ;  because  any 
man,  in  any  calling,  if  he  be  industrious,  honest,  and 
careful,  may  make  ample  provision  for  his  wife  and 
children.  With  us,  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  bed  is 
seldom  profaned;  nor  is  seduction  frequent.  The  fa- 
miliar, but  innocent,  intercourse  of  the  sexes  renders 
American  society  peculiarly  interesting  and  delightful. 
It  is  not  confined,  either  before  or  after  marriage,  as  in 
some  parts  of  Europe,  to  a  narrow  circle  of  exclusive 
aristocracy,  where  the  portion,  and  not  the  person,  is 
the  object  of  affection.  In  the  United  States  it  is  unre- 
strained, chaste,  and  honourable.  Our  well-educated 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  virtuous  women  are  kindly  and  affectionately  treated 
by  their  husbands,  loved  and  reverenced  by  their  chil- 
dren, and  respected  by  society — of  which  they  compose 
the  brightest  ornament  and  honour.  Hence  it  is,  that 
without  pretending  to  so  high  a  polish  of  elaborate  and 
artificial  refinement,  as  some  of  the  selecter  societies  in 
Europe  exhibit,  the  United  States  display  a  more  gene- 
ral urbanity  and  civilization  than  are  to  be  found  in  any 
other  country. 

An  extensive  territory,  a  fertile  soil,  a  good  climate, 
are  all  well  calculated  to  afford  abundant  means  of  sub- 
sistence, to  quicken  the  growth  of  population,  to  ensure 
the  health,  activity,  and  strength  of  the  human  species. 
The  occupations  of  agriculture,  the  ranging  in  the 
woods  for  game,  the  locomotive  and  migratory  habits 
of  the  Americans,  have  all  a  direct  tendency  to  impart 
agility  and  strength  to  the  sinews  and  muscles  of  the 
body.  An  increasing  and  efficient  population  does  not 
depend,  however,  merely  upon  the  multitude  of  early 
marriages,  and  frequency  of  births,  but  chiefly  upon  the 
great  proportion  of  children  that  are  born  being  reared 
to  maturity.  In  the  United  States  the  marriages  ave- 
rage six  births,  of  which  four  are  reared.  Mr.  Storch, 
in  his  "  Historico  Statistical  Picture  of  the  Russian  Em- 
pire" says,  the  boors  in  Russia  have  generally  twelve 
children  to  one  marriage ;  of  which  seldom  more  than 
one-fourth  are  reared.  This  great  mortality  among  the 
children,  occasioned,  no  doubt,  by  hardship  and  want, 
on  the  part  of  the  peasantry,  caused  Catharine  the  Se- 
cond to  complain,  in  her  celebrated  "  Instructions"  to 
her  different  ministers,  and  ask  of  them  the  causes,  why 
"  this  hof>e  of  the  government  is  defeated  ?"  Now,  the 
political  doctors  of  Russia  ought  to  have  informed  their 
mistress,  that  the  only  wise  institutions  by  which  the 
evil  could  be  remedied,  would  be  the  establishment  of 
such  a  frame  of  civil  society,  as  to  secure  permanent 
liberty,  public  and  private,  by  equitable  laws,  a  regular 
administration  of  justice,  the  general  diffusion  of  senti- 
ments of  personal  respectability,  moral  restraint,  reli- 


£54  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

gious  feeling,  industry,  sobriety,  and  cleanliness  among 
the  people. 

Wherever  these  social  blessings  occur,  there  never 
will  be,  necessarily  and  of  course,  that  is  to  say,  without 
the  intervention  of  epidemics  and  fatal  diseases,  any 
very  great  mortality  among  the  children  born  in  any 
country;  because  in  old  and  long-established 'nations, 
where  the  population  presses  hard  upon  the  means  of 
subsistence,  the  marriages  will  be  late,  the  births  pro- 
portionally few,  and  the  children  generally  reared  to 
man's  estate ;  and  in  a  young  country,  as  in  these  United 
States,  where  these  social  blessings  do  actually  exist, 
where  the  means  of  subsistence  are  abundant,  and  there 
is  plenty  of  land  to  give  elbow-room  for  a  rapid  increase 
of  population,  the  marriages  will  be  early,  the  births 
frequent,  and  most  of  the  children  reared. 

M.  Volney,  in  his  "  View"  of  the  United  States,  em- 
phatically notices  the  idle,  babbling,  uneffectual  life  of  a 
colony  01  French  farmers  in  the  Western  country,  when 
contrasted  with  the  patient,  plodding  industry  of  the 
Scottish,  English,  and  German  agriculturists  in  the  same 
neighbourhood ;  and  more  especially  when  contrasted 
with  the  far  superior  activity  and  enterprise  of  the  na- 
tive American  settlers  in  reclaiming  the  waste  arid  wil- 
derness from  the  dominion  of  the  beasts  of  the  forest, 
making  the  valleys  wave  thick  with  the  teeming  grain, 
and  causing  the  solitary  places  to  blossom  as  the  rose. 
Indeed  these  United  States  possess  unrivalled  advan- 
tages for  promoting  a  rapid  increase  of  their  inhabitants; 
and  also  for  rearing  a  most  efficient  population ;  so  that, 
if  America  shall  spring  forward  during  the  next,  with 
the  same  velocity  and  force  with  which  she  has  moved 
progressively  during  the  last  fifty  years,  she  will  then 
whiten  every  sea  with  her  commercial  canvass ;  bear  her 
naval  thunders  in  triumph  to  earth's  extremest  verge ; 
peer  above  the  sovereignty  of  other  nations,  and  cause 
the  elder  world  to  bow  its  venerable  head,  white  with 
the  hoar  of  ages,  beneath  the  paramount  power  and  in- 
fluence of  this  younger  daughter  of  the  civilized  globe. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


The  habits  and  manners  of  the  United  States  are  con- 
siderably influenced  by  the  eager  appetite  for  the  ac- 
quisition of  wealth,  which  is  necessarily  the  great  ab- 
sorbing passion  of  all  new  and  thinly  settled  countries  ; 
and  also  by  the  perpetual  proneness  to  mingle  in  the 
party-politics  of  the  day,  which  is  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  our  popular  and  democratic  institutions.  Of 
course  these  pursuits  prevail  most  in  the  large  cities  on 
our  seaboard  ;  because  they  afford  the  greatest  facilities 
of  commercial  enterprise,  and  the  busiest  scene  of  poli- 
tical exertion.  Yet  the  trading  spirit  is  diffused  over  all 
the  country  ;  our  farmers,  mechanics,  soldiers,  seamen, 
lawyers,  legislators,  physicians,  nay,  sometimes,  even 
our  clergy,  indulge  in  mercantile  speculations.  Even 
politics  themselves  give  way  to  the  universal  desire  of 
speedily  amassing  money.  The  peculiar  circumstances 
of.the  Union  have  conspired  to  foster  the  growth  of  this 
trading  spirit.  During  five  and  twenty  years,  while 
war  impoverished  and  wasted  Europe,  commerce  en- 
riched the  United  States,  with  a  rapidity,  and  to  an  ex- 
tent unexampled  in  the  liistory  of  nations.  Since  the 
peace  of  1815,  indeed,  the  diminution  of  our  foreign 
trade,  and  the  incredible  number  of  insolvencies,  ought 
to  teach  us,  both  to  moderate  our  eager  craving  after 
wealth,  and  that  extravagance  of  expenditure,  far  sur- 
passing the  rate  of  living  among  the  corresponding 
classes  in  Europe,  which  has  been  almost  the  necessary 
effect  of  our  sudden  and  unexampled  opulence. 

America  has  profited  in  more  ways  than  one  by  Bri- 
tish capital  ;  that  is  to  say,  she  has  grown  rich,  not 
merely  by  the  amount  and  length  of  credit  which  the 
merchants  of  Britain  have  given  her,  but  also  by  her 
own  numberless  insolvents  having  made  it  a  point  of 
conscience  never  to  pay  a  single  stiver  to  a  British  credi- 
tor. From  the  peace  of  1783  to  1789,  the  British  ma- 
nufacturers did  not  receive  more  than  one-third  of  the 
value  of  all  the  goods  which  they  sold  to  their  American 
customers;  arid  since  the  peace  of  1815,  up  to  the  pre- 
sent hour,  they  have  not  received  one-fourth.  This  hor- 
rible piracy  upon  British  property  is  supported,  if  not 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

created,  by  our  system  of  state  insolvent  laws.  No  honest 
man  can  devise  a  valid  reason,  why  Congress  should 
not  exert  its  constitutional  power  of  passing  a  uniform 
bankrupt  act,  and  thus  give  our  foreign  creditors  sonu- 
chance  of  an  occasional  dividend.  At  present  every 
State  has  its  own  insolvent  law,  that  is  to  say,  there  are 
twenty  different  legal  modes  of  evading  the  payment  of 
debts  in  the  Union.  According  to  the  present  system, 
the  creditor  has  no  security  for  the  recovery  of  his  mo- 
ney but  the  personal  honesty  of  his  debtor,  which,  some- 
times, is  not  the  best  of  all  possible  bonds.  If  the  debtor 
thinks  the  money  better  in  his  own  pocket  than  in  that 
of  his  creditor,  he  has  twenty  different  governments  out 
of  which  to  select  the  theatre  best  fitted  for  the  pur- 
poses of  fraud  and  knavery.  And  to  speak  tenderly  of 
our  insolvents,  they  seem  to  understand  their  business 
very  well. 

As  a  natural  consequence  of  the  sudden  influx  of 
wealth  into  the  United  States,  too  many  of  the  Ameri- 
cans have  departed  from  the  salutary  habits  of  economy 
which  characterized  their  English  and  Dutch  ancestors, 
and  have  become  the  most  extravagant  people  on  earth. 
In  proportion  to  its  wealth  and  population,  our  city  of 
New-York  far  surpasses  all  the  rest  of  the  civilized 
world  in  its  rate  of  expenditure,  and  amount  of  insolven- 
cies, of  which  last  upwards  of  six  thousand  occurred  in 
1811.  It  costs,  at  least,  one-third  more  to  live  hero 
than  in  London ;  which,  on  the  whole,  is  perhaps  the 
dearest  place  in  Europe.  To  be  sure,  there  is  no  occa- 
sion in  this  country  to  feel  that  perpetual  anxiety  about 
pecuniary  matters,  which  is  entailed  upon  all  the  people 
in  England,  excepting  a  few  overgrown  capitalists,  by 
the  enormous  expenditure  of  the  government,  and  the 
pressure  of  universal  taxation.  But  our  people,  gene- 
rally, and  particularly  in  the  large  cities,  have  fallen  in- 
to habits  of  personal  and  family  expense,  not  only  far 
surpassing  those  of  the  corresponding  classes  in  Europe, 
but  also  far  exceeding  the  fair  earnings  of  our  merchants 
and  professional  men;  many  of  whom  become  their 
own  executors,  and  leave  their  children  paupers,  and 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  457 

the  more  helpless  for  having  been  brought  up  in  idle- 
ness and  extravagance.  It  is  the  more  surprising  that 
the  Americans  should  hasten  to  impoverish  themselves 
with  such  heedless  prodigality;  because,  as  there  is 
neither  birth  nor  rank  in  the  United  States,  wealth  is 
our  only  mark  of  distinction;  it  is,  in  fact,  our  great 
social  virtue,  as  poverty  is  the  unpardonable  crime ;  and 
in  no  part  of  the  world  is  the  learned  pate  required  to 
duck  to  the  golden  fool,  with  more  obsequious  servility 
than  in  our  free  and  independent  republic. 

But  well-regulated  economy,  equally  removed  from 
parsimony  on  one  hand,  and  from  extravagance  on  the 
other,  is  alike  the  basis  of  all  domestic  independence 
and  comfort,  and  of  all  national  wealth  and  prosperity. 
Women  can  seldom  earn,  but  they  may  often  save,  a 
fortune,  by  judicious  management.  The  American  la- 
dies, however,  are  not  generally  taught  the  importance 
and  use  of  economy.  And  it  requires  more  moral  nerve 
than  most  men  possess  to  practise  frugality  amidst  the 
surrounding  extravagance  of  the  whole  neighbourhood. 
Whence,  a  man's  own  personal  and  domestic  vanity, 
seconded  by  the  eternal  exhortations  of  his  wife  and 
daughters,  leads  too  many  of  our  respectable  families 
into  that  poverty  which,  in  itself,  is  one  of  the  greatest 
of  all  social  evils,  which  neither  prevents  nor  softens  any 
other  evil,  but  exasperates  and  darkens  all  other  cala- 
mities. Of  course  no  one  in  his  senses  supposes  that 
the  rich  and  the  poor  are  to  live  according  to  the  same 
rate  of  penurious  expenditure ;  since  the  magnificence 
of  the  opulent  puts  in  motion  a  considerable  amount  of 
productive  industry  and  ingenuity  ;  and  is  a  better 
mode  of  distributing  money,  by  employing  the  labouring 
classes,  than  by  giving  it  as  alms.  Nor  is  it  any  part 
of  sound  philosophy  for  men  of  talents  to  live  like 
ascetics,  or  self-denying  monks,  under  pretence  of  being 
abstracted  from  me  allurements  of  time  and  sense. 
When  Descartes  was  dining  with  the  Stadtholder  of 
^Holland,  the  worthy  Dutch  magistrate  observed  the 
metaphysician  demolish  the  dessert  with  indefatigable 
perseverance,  and  bawled  out,  "What!  dof^?  iphiloso- 

58 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

pher  eat  ice,  and  creams,  and  sweetmeat  ?"  "  Why," 
answered  Descartes,  "  should  your  highness  think  that 
all  the  good  things  of  this  world  were  made  only  for 
blockheads  ?" 

In  addition  to  the  general  extravagance,  there  are 
other  causes  which  prevent  the  accumulation  of  family 
wealth  in  the  United  States.  The  abolition  of  the  sta- 
tute of  entails,  and  of  the  common  law  of  descent,  pre- 
vents the  formation  of  new,  and  ensures  the  extinction 
of  old  families.  There  are  scarcely  a  dozen  of  the  an- 
cient Dutch  and  British  stocks  now  remaining  in  the 
city  of  New- York.  Say,  ah  industrious  frugal  man 
amasses  wealth,  by  a  long  life  of  successful  trade,  or 
laborious  law,  or  lucky  land-jobbing;  he  dies,  and  all 
his  property  is  divided  among  his  children ;  of  which  a 
large  squadron  is  generally  left,  and  the  share  of  each 
is  about  enough  to  make  them  all  idle,  and  not  sufficient 
to  afford  a  decent  independence.  In  numerous  instan- 
ces, they  sink  eventually  into  paupers,  and  new  men 
from  the  country,  gradually  rise  into  eminence  and 
wealth,  and  leave  their  offspring  to  run  a  course  of  idle- 
ness, folly,  extravagance,  and  ruin.  Whence,  a  perpe- 
tual fluctuation  of  property,  and  of  family,  takes  place 
throughout  the  Union.  Some  great  men  in  Europe, 
among  whom  Mr.  Burke  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous, 
have  undertaken  to  demonstrate,  that  the  power  of  per- 
petuating property  is  essentially  necessary  to  give 
strength  and  ballast  to  a  nation,  and  link  the  present 
with  the  past  and  future  generations  of  men.  But  this 
right  of  primogeniture  was  known  only  to  the  artificial, 
unnatural  state  of  society  called  the  feudal  system.  And 
it  seems  contrary  to  the  first  principles  of  natural  justice, 
that  the  eldest  son  should  take  all  the  real  estate,  and 
the  other  children  be  left  destitute,  for  no  other  crime 
than  being  younger  than  he.  This  scheme  also  bears 
peculiarly  hard  upon  the  daughters,  who  are  doubly 
helpless,  on  account  of  their  luxurious  habits,  as  well  as 
their  poverty. 

Strictly  speaking,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  social  sub- 
ordination in  the  United  States.  Parents  have  no  com- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

mand  over  their  children,  nor  teachers  over  their  scho- 
lars, nor  lawyers,  nor  physicians,  over  their  pupils,  nor 
farmers  over  their  labourers,  nor  merchants  over  their 
clerks,  carmen,  and  porters,  nor  masters  over  their  ser- 
vants. AH  are  equal,  all  do  as  they  list,  and  all  are  free 
not  to  work,  except  the  master,  who  must  be  himself  a 
slave  if  he  means  his  business  to  prosper,  for  he  has  no 
control  over  any  other  head,  eyes,  or  hands  than  his 
own.  Owing,  perhaps,  to  the  very  popular  nature  of 
our  institutions,  the  American  children  are  seldom  taught 
that  profound  reverence  for,  and  strict  obedience  to, 
their  parents,  which  are  at  once  the  basis  of  domestic 
comfort,  and  of  the  welfare  of  the  children  themselves. 
Of  course,  where  there  is  no  parental  authority,  there 
can  be  no  discipline  in  schools  and  colleges.  If  a  pre- 
ceptor presume  to  strike,  or  effectually  punish  a  boy,  he 
most  probably  loses  at  least  one  scholar,  perhaps  more. 
And  as  no  inconvenience  attaches  to  a  boy's  being  ex- 
pelled from  school  or  college,  the  teachers  have  no  au- 
thority, nor  learning  any  honour,  in  the  United  States. 
Nay,  the  independence  of  children  on  their  parents, 
is  carried  so  far.  as  to  raise  doubts  if  a  father  or  mother 
has  any  right  to  interfere  in  the  marriage  of  a  son  or 
daughter.  A  few  weeks  since,  this  question  was  pub- 
licly discussed  at  one  of  our  New-York  debating  clubs, 
for  the  edification  of  a  numerous  audience,  both  male 
and  female ;  and  it  was  determined  by  a  stout  majority, 
that  in  a  free  and  enlightened  republic,  children  are  at 
liberty  to  marry  whom  they  please,  without  any  interfe- 
rence on  the  part  of  the  parents,  either  in  the  shape  of 
advice,  or  command,  or  otherwise ;  and  for  this  most  sa- 
gacious reason,  that  the  child,  and  not  the  parent,  is 
about  to  commit  matrimony;  it  being  quite  an  exploded 
prejudice,  that  parents  can  have  any  possible  concern 
in  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  their  offspring.  This 
doctrine  doubtless,  is  palatable  to  every  needy  and  un- 
principled adventurer,  who  wishes  to  persuade  some  silly 
daughter  of  an  opulent  father,  to  accompany  him  to  the 
next  trading  justice,  who,  for  a  few  shillings,  will  per- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

form  the  marriage  ceremony,  and  consign  her  to  a  hus- 
band, and  disgrace,  and  misery,  for  life. 

There  is  no  such  relation  as  master  and  servant  in  the 
United  States  :  indeed,  the  name  is  not  permitted ; — 
"  help"  is  the  designation  of  one  who  condescends  to 
receive  wages  for  service.  This  help  is  generally 
afforded  by  free  blacks,  and  Irish ;  pur  natives  seldom 
lowering  the  dignity  of  free-born  republicans  so  much, 
as  to  enter  a  house  in  the  capacity  of  servants.  Even 
Mr.  Birkbeck,  who  is  so  much  enamoured  of  our  de- 
mocracy, is  somewhat  troubled  at  what  he  calls  the 
bigoted  aversion  of  the  Americans  to  domestic  service ; 
and  that  they,  confounding  the  term  servant  with  that 
of  slave,  should  prefer  keeping  their  children  at  home, 
in  idleness,  and  often  in  rags,  when  they  might  be  pro- 
fitably and  pleasantly  employed  in  attending  upon  their 
more  affluent  fellow-citizens.  He  concludes  with  the 
discovery,  that  if  a  gentleman  wishes  to  be  waited  on 
and  served  in  the  United  States,  he  must  wait  upon  and 
serve  himself;  which  is  true  enough.  I  remember,  at 
Boston,  a  few  years  since,  the  mistress  of  the  house  where 
I  lodged  desired  her  negro  man  to  go  on  some  errand 
for  her;  the  answer  was,  "I  cannot,  for  I  am  engaged 
to  meet  some  gentlemen  and  ladies  (all  negroes,)  at  an 

assembly  this  evening,  in street."     And  the  lady 

was  obliged  to  have  her  service  unperformed,  while  a 
stout  fellow,  to  whom  she  gave  twelve  dollars  a  month 
"wages,  was  regaling  himself  at  a  black  ball  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. 

The  national  vanity  of  the  United  States  surpasses 
that  of  any  other  country,  not  even  excepting  France. 
It  blazes  out  every  where,  and  on  all  occasions — in  their 
conversation,  newspapers,  pamphlets,  speeches,  and 
books.  They  assume  it  as  a  self-evident  fact,  that  the 
Americans  surpass  all  other  nations  in  virtue,  wisdom, 
valour,  liberty,  government,  and  every  other  excellence. 
All  Europeans  they  profess  to  despise,  as  ignorant  pau- 
pers and  dastardly  slaves.  Even  during  President 
Washington's  administration,  Congress  debated  three 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

days  upon  the  important  position  that  "  America  was 
the  most  enlightened  nation  on  earth ;"  and  finally  deci- 
ded the  affirmative  by  a  small  majority.  At  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  late  war  with  England,  General  Moreau, 
who  then  resided  in  this  city,  was  asked  if  our  officers 
did  not  seek  to  avail  themselves  of  his  military  skill  and 
experience,  by  propounding  questions  to  him  ?  He  re- 
plied, "  there  is  not  an  ensign  in  the  American  army 
who  does  not  consider  himself  a  much  greater  tactician 
than  General  Moreau."  And  our  present  President,  in 
his  recent  tour  through  the  Union,  told  the  people  of 
Kerinebunk,  in  the  district  of  Maine,  "  that  the  United 
States  were  certainly  the  most  enlightened  nation  in  the 
world." 

The  causes  of  this  national  vanity  are  obvious ;  our 
popular  institutions,  vesting  the  national  sovereignty  in 
the  people,  have  a  direct  tendency  to  make  that  people 
self-important  and  vain.  Add  to  which,  the  incessant 
flattery  they  receive  in  newspapers,  and  public  talks, 
about  their  collective  majesty,  wisdom,  power,  dignity, 
and  so  forth  ;  their  unexampled  prosperity  in  the  occu- 
pations of  peace ;  and  lastly,  their  actual  achievements 
in  war.  Twice  have  they  grappled,  in  deadly  encoun- 
ter, with  the  most  powerful,  the  bravest,  and  the  most 
intelligent  nation  in  Europe;  and  twice  have  they 
triumphed  over  the  most  skilful  commanders,  and  best 
appointed  troops  of  that  nation,  in  the  battlefield,  and 
on  the  ocean. 

The  result  of  all  is,  that  the  American  people  possess 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  materials  of  national 
greatness,  superior  to  those  of  any  other  country ;  and, 
in  order  to  render  the  United  States  the  greatest  nation 
in  the  world,  they  have  only  gradually  to  augment  the 
power  of  their  general  goverment ;  to  tighten  the  cords, 
and  strengthen  the  stakes  of  their  Federal  Union ;  to 
organize  a  judicious  system  of  internal  finance  ;  to  pro- 
vide for  the  more  general  diffusion  of  religious  worship; 
to  enlarge  and  elevate  their  system  of  liberal  education ; 
to  increase  the  dimensions,  and  exalt  the  standard  of 
their  literature,  art,  and  science. 


CONCLUSION. 


JLN  order  to  show  the  necessity  of  radically  strengthen- 
ing and  vigorously  administering  the  general  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  the  remaining  pages  will  be 
devoted  to  exhibiting  an  eye-glance  of  the  present  con- 
dition of  Europe,  and  its  probable  consequences  to  the 
world  at  large,  and  to  this  country  in  particular. 

What  portion  of  Europe,  insular  or  continental,  pro- 
mises a  continuance  of  repose  ?  Does  France,  with  a 
feeble  throne,  recently  reinstated,  amidst  a  discontented, 
mortified,  vain,  unprincipled  people,  torn  to  pieces  by 
contending  factions,  and  bent  to  the  earth  by  the  in- 
creasing difficulties  of  her  finance?  Can  England 
alone,  reeling  as  she  is  beneath  the  weight  of  her  own 
burden,  stem  the  tide  of  that  revolutionary  fury  which 
pervades  Europe  from  the  Tagus  to  the  Neva,  and 
threatens,  once  more,  to  dissolve  the  elements  of  so- 
cial order,  and  roll  into  ruin  those  principalities  and 
powers  which  have  been  so  recently  restored  or  elevated 
to  their  present  eminence  ?  In  Italy,  in  Germany,  in 
Poland,  and  in  the  United  Netherlands,  all  seems  to  be 
disjointed ;  every  thing  is  afloat ;  the  ancient  boundaries 
and  landmarks  of  kingdoms  are  removed,  the  people 
are  transferred,  like  herds  of  cattle,  from  one  master  to 
another,  and  all  their  feelings,  passions,  and  prejudices 
kept  in  a  state  of  continual  ferment  and  exasperation. 

The  shock,  occasioned  by  twenty-five  years  of  revo- 
lutionary conflict,  has  been  too  violent,  to  permit  the 
mere  re-establishment  of  the  old  dynasties  to  produce  a 
secure  and  permanent  repose.  Two  of  the  main  props 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


463 


of  European  society  have  been  grievously  impaired; 
namely,  the  influence  of  the  intermediate  bodies,  or  or- 
ders, and  the  balance  of  power.  The  importance  of  the 
clergy  and  nobility,  as  component  parts  of  the  state  or 
commonwealth,  has  been  too  much  diminished,  ever  to 
recover  its  former  weight  and  strength.  For  want  of 
the  influence  of  these  intermediate  bodies,  which,  prior 
to  the  French  revolution,  served  at  once  to  secure  to 
the  sovereign  the  respect  and  obedience  of  his  people, 
and  to  the  people  mildness  and  moderation  on  the  part 
of  the  sovereign,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  Europe  now  will 
perpetually  oscillate  between  the  struggles  and  triumphs 
of  sedition  and  despotism.  The  only  ground  of  hope 
for  European  peace  would  be  the  extension  of  the  re- 
presentative system,  which  might  enlighten  the  executive 
councils,  strengthen  the  authority  of  the  sovereign, 
establish  and  preserve  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

For  political  revolutions  are  always  occasioned  or 
preceded  by  disaffection  in  the  great  mass  of  the  com- 
munity ;  and  ambitious  and  profligate  men,  consulting 
only  their  own  interests,  would  in  vain  labour  to  pro- 
duce a  national  convulsion,  if  the  people  were  contented, 
and  at  ease.  By  what  possible  means  could  any  un- 
principled demagogues  incite  the  American  people  to  a 
revolution,  in  their  present  happy  and  prosperous  state. 
Moderation,  justice,  and  an  easy  yoke  can,  alone, 
give  stability  and  permanence  to  governments.  But 
the  danger  is,  that,  after  so  terrible  an  explosion,  a  spirit 
of  distrust  or  resentment,  and  the  predilection  for  arbi- 
trary power  which  is  too  common  with  all  rulers,  whether 
imperial,  or  monarchal,  or  republican,  may  lead  the 
governments  of  Europe  to  adopt  maxims  of  severity  and 
restraint — the  necessary  consequence  of  which,  in  the 
present  feverish  state  of  the  world,  must  be  a  perilous 
popular  reaction,  that  nothing  but  magnanimity  and 
mildness  in  the  ruling  powers  can  either  avert  or  dis- 
arm, when  once  excited.  This  revolutionary  reaction-, 
an  incident  of  human  nature,  in  all  ages  and  countries, 
but  peculiarly  characteristic  of  the  present  period  of 
insurgency  and  turbulence,  the  wisdom  and  forecast  of 


464  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATE'S. 

every  good  government  will  labour  not  to  provoke.  In 
the  present  generation,  certainly,  and,  perhaps,  in  the 
next  following,  there  will  be  great  danger  of  this  re- 
action. Its  symptoms,  in  various  gradations  of  violence 
and  force,  have  already  broken  out,  under  the  popular 
monarchy  of  England,  the,  as  yet,  undefined  sovereignty 
of  France,  the  senseless,  imbecile  despotism  of  Spain, 
the  limited  and  guarded  government  of  the  United  Ne- 
therlands, and  some  of  the  smaller  Italian  and  German 
principalities.  The  military  sway  of  Russia,  Austria, 
and  Prussia  have,  hitherto,  kept  down  this  natural  in- 
surgency against  all  arbitrary  rule  in  their  subjects, 
whose  reaction,  however,  will  be  the  more  terrible,  in 
proportion  to  the  protracted  resistance  of  their  respect- 
ive governments,  to  the  introduction  of  a  representa- 
tive system  and  popular  institutions. 

Notwithstanding  the  re-establishment  of  the  old  dy- 
nasties, the  balance  of  power,  in  Europe,  cannot  be  re- 
stored, as  it  existed  prior  to  the  French  revolution, 
when  Austria,  and  England,  and  Russia  were,  general- 
ly, ranged  on  the  same  sides,  in  order  to  counterpoise 
the  ascendancy  of  France,  and  the  growing  greatness 
of  Prussia.  The  system  of  equilibrium  is,  at  all  times, 
and  now  more  than  ever,  merely  a  system  of  provident 
jealousy  for  the  great  powers ;  and  for  those  of  a  second- 
ary order  it  arises  out  of  the  necessity  of  a  mutual  sup- 
port against  the  encroachments  of  over-bearing  neigh- 
bours. A  slight  eye-glance  at  the  present  condition  of 
Europe,  will  show  at  once  that  it  is  not  easy  to  regu- 
late the  balance  of  power  in  that  quarter  of  the  world ; 
nor  probable  that  peace  and  harmony  can  be  long  main- 
tained among  its  different  sovereigns. 

The  course  of  the  smaller  States  will,  as  heretofore, 
be  determined  by  that  of  the  primary  powers.  Prussia 
has  only  a  population  of  ten  or  eleven  millions,  scattered 
over  a  disjointed  territory,  that  has  neither  frontier  nor 
centre ;  a  population  too,  multiform  and  dissonant,  not. 
bound  together  in  themselves,  or  towards  their  govern- 
ment, by  long  habits  of  kindred  feeling,  and  loyal  at- 
tachment. Its  government  is  purely  military,  and,  con- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

sequently,  ill  adapted  to  the  present  tendencies  towards 
popular  representation  and  sovereignty,  that  prevail  all 
over  Christendom.  The  Emperor  Joseph  the  second 
used  to  say,  in  reference  to  Prussia,  "  if  she  be  ever 
pressed  vigorously  by  a  powerful  neighbour,  she  will  find 
that  an  army  and  an  exchequer  are  not  a  nation." 

Austria  numbers  a  population  of  nearly  thirty  millions, 
but  her  dominions  are  scattered  over  Germany,  Poland, 
and  Italy ;  her  Italian  and  Polish  subjects  are  not  well 
affected ;  her  fine  provinces  of  Hungary,  Bohemia,  Sty- 
ria,  Carinthia,  and  Gallicia,  in  themselves  capable  of 
developing  vast  resources,  and  maintaining  an  immense 
number  of  inhabitants,  are  so  strangely  mismanaged  as 
to  be  comparatively  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  unproduc- 
tive ; — whereas,  if  well  regulated,  they,  together  with 
the  hereditary  dominions  of  Austria,  might  supply  the 
Austrian  government  with  a  sufficient  force  in  men  and 
money,  to  enable  it  to  stride  the  balance,  and  preserve 
the  equipoise  of  Europe.  But  the  government  of  Aus- 
tria is  inert  and  feeble,  her  finances  are  shattered,  and 
her  people  have  not  enough  of  the  redeeming  spirit  of 
liberty  in  them  to  enable  her  to  stay  the  progress  of  the 
Giant  of  the  North,  when  he  rises  te  direct  his  steps 
towards  the  supremacy  of  Europe. 

The  physical  advantages  of  Spain  are  at  least  equal 
to  those  of  any  country  in  Europe.  Her  localities  are 
admirably  calculated  to  make  her  a  great  and  predomi- 
nating nation.  Placed  as  she  is  between  the  ocean  and 
the  Mediterranean,  and  bulwarked  in  by  the  Pyrenean 
mountains  on  the  only  side  where  she  touches  the  Eu- 
ropean continent;  with  a  territory  covering  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  square  miles,  and  blessed  with  an 
abundant  soil  and  luxuriant  climate;  rich  in  all  navigable 
capacities ;  containing  a  population  of  twelve  millions  of 
inhabitants,  and  able  to  maintain,  under  a  due  culture  of 
the  land,  and  a  well-administered  government,  at  least 
thirty  millions  of  souls;  with  a  numerous  peasantry,  pa- 
tient, hardy,  and  bold ;  with  mountaineers,  vigilant,  ac- 
tive, and  intrepid ;  with  borderers  on  the  ocean,  expert, 
adventurous,  invincible  seamen.  Previous  to  the  battle 

59 


46(3  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  Rocroi,  the  Spanish  infantry  was  the  best  in  Europe. 
And,  even  now,  after  her  long  night  of  darkness,  igno- 
rance, and  superstition,  Spain  has  only  to  develope  the 
mind  of  her  children,  by  the  free  and  general  diffusion 
of  art,  science,  and  literature,  in  order  to  enable  her  to 
rank  in  power,  influence,  and  renown,  with  the  most 
civilized  and  illustrious  nations  of  the  earth. 

But  Spain  is  an  awful  instance,  e  contrario,  of  the  truth 
of  the  position,  that  the  strength,  prosperity,  and  great- 
ness of  a  country  are  intimately  connected  with  the 
liberty  and  intelligence  of  its  people.  Human  reason  is 
not  the  ability  or  the  effort  of  any  one  human  being;  but 
it  is  the  great  result  of  the  learning  and  reflection  of 
numbers,  arising  from  the  intellectual  lights,  mutually 
communicated,  and  examined,  either  verbally,  or  in  wri- 
ting, and,  consequently,  human  reason  itself,  is  just  in  its 
conceptions,  clear,  profound,  and  comprehensive  in  its 
views,  precisely  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  general- 
ly educated  and  well  informed  minds  that  are  actively 
employed,  at  any  given  period  of  the  world,  in  exploring 
and  disseminating  the  lights  of  science  and  literature, 
throughout  those  sections  of  the  earth,  which  the  rays 
of  knowledge  are  permitted  to  penetrate.  Hence,  the 
enormous  difference  between  the  actual  power  and  in- 
formation of  the  human  mind,  in  different  ages  and  coun- 
tries. At  one  time  and  place,  the  intellect  of  man  blazes 
forth  in  excessive  strength  and  splendour  over  all  the 
horizon — at  another  place  and  period,  it  is  only  dimly 
discerned  in  the  distance,  darkling  in  ignorance  and  su- 
perstition, upon  the  borders  of  chaos  and  old  night. 

Hence  the  necessity  of  affording  to  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  of  every  community,  the  means  of  elementa- 
ry instruction;  if  the  nation  desires  to  be  permanently 
prosperous  and  powerful  in  the  general  activity  of  its 
intelligence ;  employed  and  guided  by  the  superintend- 
ence of  the  few  master  spirits  that  are  created  the  natural 
guardians  of  the  age  in  which  they  live ;  the  beacons 
and  bulwarks  of  the  country  they  adorn.  This  is  most 
necessary,  because  as  native  talent  is  scattered  by  the 
Almighty,  with  an  impartial  hand,  among  the  children 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  men,  the  greatest  portion  of  natural  genius  must  al- 
ways be  produced  amidst  the  lower  and  poorer  orders 
of  society;  precisely  for  this  reason,  that  they  arc  the 
most  numerous  class  of  the  community ;  and  an  illiterate 
nation  is  almost  entirely  deprived  of  the  means  of  un- 
folding its  native  capacities  into  strength  and  precision, 
by  its  inability  to  approach  the  fountains  of  informa- 
tion. 

In  the  year  1808,  it  was  required  of  the  universal 
Spanish  nation,  to  rise  in  resistance  to  the  most  atrocious, 
and  most  formidable  invasion  of  their  rights  and  claims 
as  a  people;  they  were  called  upon  to  strain  every  bo- 
dily nerve,  to  direct  every  ray  of  intellect,  to  devote 
every  pulsation  of  the  heart,  in  physical  and  moral  fear- 
lessness, against  their  terrible  and  remorseless  enemy. 
Nor  were  the  people  of  Spain  wanting  in  patriotic  ar- 
dour and  courage ;  they  listened  to  their  country's  call, 
and  pressed  forward  with  one  heart,  and  one  accord,  to 
dedicate  themselves,  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  to  rescue  the 
soil  of  their  nativity,  the  bones  of  tneir  fathers,  their 
wives,  and  their  little  ones,  from  the  grasp  of  the  inva- 
der. But  Spanish  courage  was  not  seconded  by  Spanish 
intellect.  The  mind  of  Spain  had  been  stifled  in  the 
sink  of  ignorance,  through  the  lapse  of  centuries ;  and 
more  especially  during  all  the  reigns  of  the  Bourbon 
dynasty.  So  that  in  the  year  1808,  at  the  bursting  forth 
of  the  revolution,  the  want  of  previous  general  educa- 
tion exceedingly  narrowed  and  crippled  all  the  national 
efforts.  The  Spanish  nobles,  generally,  were  immersed 
in  ignorance,  sloth,  and  profligacy;  the  great  body  of 
the  people  were  unacquainted  with  even  .the  simplest 
rudiments  of  instruction,  they  could  neither  write  nor 
read ;  the  little  miserable  information  that  was  afloat, 
was  confined  to  the  clergy,  and  consisted  chiefly  of  the 
scholastic  theology,  and  'inquisitorial  sophistry  and  cru- 
elty of  the  dark  and  barbarous  ages. 

So  great  indeed,  was  the  dearth  of  native  disciplined 
talent  in  Spain,  that  for  more  than  a  century  preceding 
the  revolution,  her  government  had  been  principally 
directed  by  foreigners  as  ministers  of  State ;  obscure  ad- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

venturers,  Irish,  Scottish,  Italian,  and  French,  who  were 
hangers-on  about  the  court,  and  supplied  the  want  of 
Spanish  intelligence,  by  their  own  superior  address  and 
still.  Spain,  perhaps,  is  the  only  instance  on  the  record 
of  nations,  of  a  country  of  any  extent,  power,  and  influ- 
ence, being  so  extremely  deficient  in  all  general  educa- 
tion, as  to  be  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  obscure 
foreigners,  to  administer  her  finances,  and  guide  her  po- 
litical movements.  Owing  to  this  ignorance  of  the 
community,  retarding  and  confining  the  growth  and 
operations  of  native  talent,  the  whole  seven  years  of 
peninsular  warfare  passed  away  without  Spain's  being 
able  to  produce  a  single  first-rate  warrior,  one  superior 
statesman,  a  solitary  efficient  engineer,  a  profound  finan- 
cier, an  able  negotiator;  any  one  individual,  of  great 
and  comprehensive  genius,  to  redeem  his  country  from 
civil  and  military  death.  All  her  own  fighting  was  hill 
and  glen,  and  partisan  warfare.  No  military  tactics 
were  displayed  on  a  large  scale  by  the  Spanish  com- 
manders. Her  colonial  governments,  also,  were  still 
suffered  to  labour  under  all  the  vices  of  the  old  mal- 
administration. Such  were  the  political  and  military 
defects  of  Spain,  in  consequence  of  her  extreme  and 
general  ignorance,  that  in  all  probability  she  must  have 
sunk  for  ever  under  the  superior  mind  and  means  of 
France,  had  not  Britain  interposed  between  her  and 
ruin ;  had  not  the  British  armies  by  their  skill  and  prow- 
ess, vanquished  the  most  accomplished  generals,  and  the 
best  appointed,  and  most  highly  disciplined  veterans  of 
Napoleon. 

Nor  were  they  wiser  in  their  civil  than  in  their  mili-» 
tary  capacity ;  for  they  passed  in  what  they  called  their 
new  government,  from  the  extreme  of  single  despotism, 
under  which  they  were  afflicted  by  their  Bourbon  kings, 
into  the  other  extreme  of  many-headed  democracy. 
The  Spanish  Constitution,  fabricated  in  the  year  1812, 

f^es  to  the  King  much  less  positive  power,  than  the 
ederal  Constitution  bestows  upon  the  President  of  the 
United  States ;  only  one  legislative  assembly  is  allowed ; 
the  order  of  nobility,  or  hereditary  aristocracy,  is  not 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

even  recognized ;  no  Senate  is  established ;  and  the  press 
is  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  a  committee.  A 
worse  government  could  not  be  devised,  than  one,  in 
which  the  executive  power  is  weak  and  unsupported ; 
where  there  exists  no  Senate,  no  permanent  representa- 
tive body  to  interpose  its  check,  its  weight  of  property, 
character,  and  talent,  between  the  pressure  of  the  sin- 
gle executive,  and  the  fluctuations  01  the  immediate  and 
temporary  representatives  of  the  people ;  where  nearly 
all  the  power  of  the  country,  executive,  legislative,  and 
judicial,  is  engrossed  by  the  House  of  Representatives, 
the  single  branched  Cortes,  which  is  filled  up  by  rotation, 
alike  from  the  inhabitants  of  Old  Spain  and  Spanish 
America;  and  all  the  members  chosen  for  so  short  a  pe- 
riod of  service,  that  the  peninsular  representatives  could 
not  possibly  become  acquainted  with  the  national  wants, 
and  the  means  of  remedying  them;  and  the  Hispano- 
American  members  would  perform  the  whole  of  their 
legislative  functions,  in  the  act  of  sailing  backward  and 
forward  upon  the  Atlantic  ocean.  This  single-handed 
representative  assembly,  was  the  chief  wreck-rock  of  the 
French  revolution.  The  observations  of  Mr.  Burke, 
upon  this  subject,  ought  to  be  treasured  up  in  the  re- 
membrance of  every  political  student. 

The  return  of  Ferdinand  the  Seventh,  in  the  year 
1814,  put  an  end  to  this  strange  constitutional  medley, 
and  restored  to  the  Spaniards  the  blessings  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, and  of  a  despotism  at  once  cruel  and  weak,  alike 
terrible  and  despicable  ;  from  the  effects  of  which  no- 
thing short  of  a  popular  revolution  can  rescue  Spain. 
Such  a  revolution,  well  conducted,  (of  which,  indeed,  the 
hope  is  very  faint,)  might  eventually  render  that  coun- 
try a  first-rate  power ;  by  establishing  a  free  govern- 
ment, with  full  religious  toleration,  giving  to  each  Chris- 
tian sect  and  denomination  equal  political  rights  and 
privileges,  with  a  free  press,  permitting  every  man  to 
publish  what  he  pleases,  with  no  other  control  than  the 
subsequent  animadversions  of  a  jury  of  his  countrymen  j 
with  a  strong,  well-guarded  executive;  a  permanent 
senate,  comprising  the  aristocracy  of  property,  talent 


470  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 

and  character;  a  powerful  democratic  branch  of  the  le- 
gislature,   immediately  representing  the  great  mass  of 
the  people ;  each  of  these  three  branches,  the  executive, 
Senate,  and  House  of  Representatives,  having  a  legisla- 
tive check  upon  each  other's  proceedings ;  with  an  in- 
dependent, enlightened  judiciary,  appointed  by  the  exe- 
cutive, and  not  removeable,  except  for  malconduct;  with 
a  numerous,  well-appointed    regular  army ;    an  exten- 
sive and  formidable  navy ;  a  skilfully-organized  system 
of  taxation ;  a  wide  and  enterprising  foreign  commerce  ; 
and  above  all,  free  scope  and  full  protection  for  every 
individual  citizen  to  better  his  condition  by  the  unre- 
strained exertions  of  his  own  industry,  skill,  and  genius, 
in  whatever  occupation  he  may  choose,  without  the  in- 
tervention of/>oor-laws,  or  the  bondage  of  apprenticeships. 
France  has,  for  several  centuries,  been   a  great  and 
formidable  power;  she  has  always  maintained  a  military 
predominance  in  Europe,  both   by  her  arms  and  by  her 
language,  giving  names  and  terms  to  every  species   of 
military  tactics.     Shorn  of  her  beams  as  she  now  is, 
and  some  what  narrowed  in  her  territory,  she  still  retains 
the  means  of  reappearing  as  a  primary  power,  when  a 
few  years  of  peace  shall  have  enabled  her  to  repair  her 
shattered  finances,  and  recruit  her  exhausted  popula- 
tion.  In  addition  to  her  valuable  colonial  possessions  she 
has  a  compact  home  territory,  covering  a  surface  of 
more  than  250,000  square  miles,  and  containing  a  popu- 
lation of  nearly  thirty  millions  of  souls ;  and  situated  in 
the  very  heart  and  centre  of  Europe.     The  climate  is 
excellent,  and  the  soil  fertile ;  the  political  strength  of 
the  country  is  greatly  augmented  by  the  annihilation  of 
the  monasteries  and  convents,  and  the  resumption  of 
their  endowments;  by  the  sale  and  consequent  cultiva- 
tion of  the  national  and  ecclesiastical  domains ;  the  great 
royal  and  signorial  forests,  parks,  pleasure-grounds,  and 
chases;  by  the   subdivision  of  the  large  estates  into 
small  iarms,  and  their  transfer  to  persons  possessing 
more  capacity  and  inclination  for  improvement,  than  had 
distinguished  the  former  feudal  proprietors. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 

Add  to  this  the  consolidation  of  her  municipal  laws 
-  into  one  national  code ;  whereas,  before  the  revolution, 
every  different  province  had  its  distinct  system  of  laws  ; 
a  circumstance  that  materially  thwarted  the  equal  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  impeded  the  circulation  of  pro- 
perty, clogged  the  growth  of  productive  industry,  and 
obstructed  the  progress  towards  national  improvement, 
opulence,  and  strength.  The  country,  likewise,  is  more 
thickly  crowded  with  military  institutions,  that  at  once 
diffuse  a  greater  eagerness  for  a  soldier's  life,  and  ren- 
der the  means  of  carrying  on  offensive  warfare  more 
abundant  and  more  effectual.  And  above  all,  France 
is  rendered  more  formidable  to  every  civilized  commu- 
nity, by  the  increased  activity,  restlessness,  spirit  of  in- 
justice, rapine,  insolence,  and  oppression,  which  the  re- 
volution has  engendered  and  established. 

The  contra-indications  to  the  exhibition  of  vast  na- 
tional power  by  France,  are  the  exhaustion  of  her 
effective  population  ;  that  is  to  say,  her  men  able  to  bear 
arms,  by  the  waste  of  twenty-five  years  of  sanguinary 
warfare ;  the  entire  derangement  of  her  national  system 
of  finance;  the  annihilation  of  her  foreign  commerce; 
the  destruction  of  her  military  marine ;  the  disabling  of 
her  internal  manufactures;  the  general  impoverishment 
of  the  country,  by  the  military  contributions,  and  armies 
of  occupation  of  the  allied  sovereigns.  Nevertheless,  a 
few  years  of  prudent  domestic  government,  aided  by  the 
prodigious  natural  advantages  of  the  country,  would  be 
sufficient  to  repair  all  these  national  breaches.  But  the 
moral  evils  of  France  cannot  so  easily  be  healed.  The 
extreme  prevalence  of  infidelity,  profligacy,  fraud,  and 
cruelty,  for  so  many  years,  has  nearly  stifled  all  public 
spirit.  During  the  several  revolutionary  usurpations, 
all  noble  sentiments  were  opposed ;  every  generous  and 
manly  opinion  was  ridiculed  and  proscribed.  These 
governments,  both  republican  and  imperial,  were  not 
contented  with  condemning  to  inaction  the  virtues  which 
they  dreaded;  but  they  excited  and  fomented  all  the 
bad  passions,  whose  exercise  they  wanted  for  the  fur- 
therance of  their  own  nefarious  designs. 


472  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  order  to  obliterate  the  traces  of  public  spirit,  these 
revolutionary  governments  tampered  with  the  personal 
interests  of  individuals;  they  silenced  the  still  small 
voice  of  conscience,  amidst  the  uproar  of  tumultuous 
ambition ;  they  made  every  condition  of  life  intolerable, 
except  that  of  devotedness  to  themselves  ;  they  suffered 
no  hopes  to  live,  save  those  alone  which  they  chose  to 
gratify;  they  industriously  taught  that  no  ambition, 
however  boundless,  on  the  part  of  the  great  nation,  could 
be  improper;  that  no  pretensions,  however  arrogant, 
could  be  exaggerated.  Hence,  revolutionary  France 
presented  a  scene,  in  which  was  exhibited  an  incessant 
agitation  of  interests,  wishes,  hopes,  and  desires,  among 
all  classes  of  people  ;  nothing  was  permanent ;  nothing 
was  quiet ;  all  was  commotion,  all  was  change ;  the  in- 
stability of  every  situation  left  to  no  man  the  perform- 
ance of  the  duties,  or  the  practice  of  the  virtues  of  his 
condition,  because  he  thought  of  emerging  from  it  as 
speedily  as  possible.  In  a  word,  a  universal  battery 
was  incessantly  kept  up  against  religion,  morals,  com- 
mon honesty,  all  that  can  cheer  private  life,  or  adorn 
public  conduct,  by  such  seductions  of  power,  fraud, 
pleasure,  and  corruption,  as  the  virtue  of  revolutionary 
Frenchmen  was  not  sturdy  enough  to  withstand. 

France,  therefore,  is  yet  an  unextinguished  volcano, 
from  whose  burning  crater  probably  will  be  again 
thrown  out  the  smoke,  and  flame,  and  northern  lava  ot 
desolation  upon  all  the  surrounding  nations. 

At  the  bursting  out  of  the  French  revolution,  in  the 
year  1789,  the  mind  of  France  was  in  a  state  of  high 
cultivation,  at  least,  so  far  as  regards  mere  intellectual 
acquisition,  without  respect  to  religious  and  moral  cul- 
ture; that  is  to  say,  in  the  physical  sciences,  in  arts, 
and  letters.  At  that  period,  too,  the  people  of  France, 
generally,  felt  an  eager  enthusiasm  for  liberty ;  and. 
although  this  popular  disposition  was  afterward  most 
flagitiously  abused,  by  unprincipled  demagogues  and 
military  despots,  yet  it  did  then  exist  in  a  very  high  state 
of  sublimation  ;  and  perhaps  a  portion  of  this  republican 
feeling  still  survives  all  the  horrors  of  the  revolution. 


.RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


473 


Prior  to  this  awful  epoch  the  French  press  had  been 
busily  employed,  for  more  than  half  a  century,  in  dis- 
seminating throughout  all  France  the  dead-lights  of  infi- 
delity and  jacobinism.  The  whole  public  mind  was  in 
agitation.  The  very  princes  of  the  blood  royal  pro- 
fessed the  new  philosophy,  while  the  King  himself  was 
poring  over  the  pages  of  ancient  history  ;  the  nobles 
encouraged  the  progress  of  atheism;  the  clergy  had 
pretty  generally  discovered  popery  to  be  a  grave  farce, 
and  many  of  them  took  refuge  from  the  mummery  of 
superstition  in  profligate  unbelief  of  all  religion;  the 
sgavanS)  the  literati,  had  persuaded  themselves  that  none 
but  men  of  talents  ought  to  govern  France,  and  that 
they  themselves  were  the  only  men  of  talents  in  the 
community ;  the  negotiators  of  France  were  intriguing 
with,  disturbing,  and  influencing  every  court  in  Chris- 
tendom ;  the  great  body  of  the  people  were  made  drunk 
with  delirious  notions  of  vague,  unattainable,  impracti- 
cable liberty. 

All  the  talent  of  this  fine  populous  country  was  in 
tumultuous  movement.  In  this  critical  state  of  things, 
this  precise  juncture  of  affairs,  the  revolution  exploded, 
and  levelled  every  barrier  of  the  French  government ; 
beat  down  every  bulwark  of  habit,  rank,  order,  and 
establishment ;  and  let  loose  all  the  mighty  mass  of  na- 
tive and  disciplined  talent  of  twenty-seven  millions  of 
the  most  active,  ingenious,  restless,  turbulent,  and  un- 
principled people  in  Europe,  to  prey  upon  their  neigh- 
bours first,  and  then  to  disturb  and  set  fire  to  the  four 
corners  of  the  world.  Situated  in  the  centre  of  conti- 
nental Europe,  girt  round  about  on  all  sides  with  a 
triple  frontier  of  unassailable  fortresses;  full  to  the 
overflowing,  of  a  people,  abounding  in  military  genius 
and  science,  and  yearning  after  an  increase  of  their 
already  great  patrimony  of  military  renown,  France, 
almost  immediately  after  the  first  eruption  of  her  revo- 
lution, poured  forth  her  armed  myriads  from  all  quar- 
ters, north,  east,  west,  and  south,  and  soon  overran, 
with  her  victorious  legions,  Holland,  Spain,  Italy,  the 
German  principalities  on  the  Rhine,  Switzerland,  Prus- 

6Q 


474 


11ESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


sia,  Austria,  Poland,  and  the  borders  of  Russia.  She 
out-fought  all  her  opponents,  by  the  ascendancy  of  her 
military  talents  and  tactics;  she  out-negotiated  all  other 
nations,  by  the  depth  and  subtlety  of  her  dexterous  di- 
plomacy; she  domineered  over  all  the  earth  by  the 
weight  and  reach  of  her  political  intellect.  France, 
springing  upward,  as  a  tiger  from  its  thicket,  and  shak- 
ing from  off  her  shoulders  the  shackles  of  a  feeble, 
worn-out  government,  poured  out  her  impetuous  and 
unrestrained  mind  in  political  and  military  movements, 
that  shook  all  Europe  to  its  foundations,  and  struck  a 
blow  of  destruction  at  the  pillars  of  human  society,  from 
the  horrible  effects  of  which  the  whole  fabric  of  the 
universe  is,  even  now,  reeling.  > 

By  what  magical  charm  or  incantation,  is  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna  to  find  a  remedy  for  the  healing  of  all 
the  complicated,  radical  evils  imposed  upon  Europe, 
by  five  and  twenty  years  of  revolutionary  cruelty  and 
conflict?  How  is  it  to  readjust  the  balance  of  power 
in  that  quarter  of  tjje  globe  ;  how  to  restore  harmony ; 
how  to  ensure  the  continuance  of  repose  and  peace, 
amidst  the  jarring  elements  of  disorder  and  contention  ? 

Is  Russia  to  be  the  grand  pacificator  ?  Is  Alexander 
"  the  Deliverer"  to  perpetuate  the  blessings  of  peace 
over  all  the  circumference  of  Christendom  ?  Russia 
has  a  home  territory  of  nearly  four  millions  of  square 
miles;  is  unassailable  in  flank  and  rear,  and  presents  a 
most  formidable  frontier  to  the  rest  of  Europe.  More 
than  five-sixths  of  her  population  inhabit  her  European 
dominions,  which  number  nearly  fifty  millions  of  souls. 
She  is  also  susceptible  of  indefinite  augmentation,  by 
the  growth  of  wealth,  people,  and  power,  on  account  of 
her  natural  means,  existing  in  the  prodigious  extent  of 
her  dominion,  and  the  variety  of  its  soil,  climate,  and 
productions.  Its  government  uses  every  effort  to  im- 
prove the  essential  strength  of  the  country,  and  to  direct 
its  force  towards  ulterior  aggrandizement,  by  the  diffu- 
sion of  arts  and  sciences,  by  the  liberal  rewards  given 
to  talents  and  learning,  whether  found  among  its  own 
people  or  contributed  by  foreigners.  Her  soil  is  capa- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ble  of  containing,  and  supporting  with  all  ease,  at  least 
four  times  the  present  number  of  its  inhabitants.  The 
people  are  brave,  patient,  hardy,  and  obedient,  capable 
of  enduring  great  fatigue,  and  of  performing  rapid  and 
long-continued  marches.  Her  commanders  are  able,  and 
her  military  tactics  excellent ;  her  government  is  abso- 
lute, and  can  (as  it  uniformly  has  done,  for  the  last  hun- 
dred years,)  pursue,  steadily  and  perseveringly,  the 
most  long-sighted  schemes  of  ambition  and  policy,  alike 
by  the  force  of  arms,  and  the  still  more  efficient  instru- 
ment of  dexterous  diplomacy. 

The  improvement  of  her  agriculture,  and  consequent 
increase  of  her  population,  are  great  and  progressive. 
Her  rivers  and  canals,  in  summer,  and  the  sledge-roads 
on  the  snows,  in  winter,  facilitate  her  internal  communi- 
cation and  commerce.  Her  present  Emperor  appears 
intent  on  improving  the  condition,  both  physical  and 
moral,  of  his  people,  by  emancipating-  the  serfs,  encou- 
raging agriculture  and  commerce,  diffusing  literature, 
art,  and  science,  and,  above  all,  by  promoting  Bible  and 
Missionary  Societies  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  his 
immense  dominions.  The  recent  exploits  of  Russia,  in 
stemming  the  tide  of  revolutionary  France,  have  won- 
derfully augmented  her  power  and  influence ;  and  facili- 
tated the  means  of  her  further  extension  and  aggran- 
dizement; by  developing  the  amount,  and  displaying 
the  efficient  management  of  her  national  resources,  by 
disciplining  her  enormous  strength,  by  inspiring  her  own 
people  with  self-confidence,  by  dispiriting  and  over- 
awing her  enemies. 

It  is  not  in  the  nature  of  great  power  to  set  limits  to 
its  own  progress.  Peter  the  first  said,  "  he  had  land 
enough,  and  only  wanted  water;"  yet  Catharine  and 
Alexander  have  added  a  very  large  portion  of  land  to 
the  Russian  empire  since  their  imperial  predecessor  ut- 
tered this  speech.  Alexander  himself  has  enlarged  his 
dominion  by  the  annexation  of  Finland,  Moldavia,  Wal- 
lachia,  Bessarabia,  a  part  of  old  Gallicia,  lower  Georgia, 
Circassia,  and  the  kingdom  of  Poland.  With  one  part 
of  her  territory  she  threatens  Asia,  and  with  the  other 


476  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

alarms  Europe.  What  is  to  prevent  her  extension  into 
Germany,  her  entire  control  of  the  northern  powers, 
Sweden,  Denmark,  Prussia,  and  her  possession  of  Con- 
stantinople ?  Once  mistress  of  the  Bosphorus  and  the 
Dardanelles,  in  addition  to  her  present  empire,  and  what 
is  to  become  of  Austria,  what  of  the  whole  European 
continent? — Nay,  what  of  England's  maritime  superiori- 
ty? It  has  always  been  the  aim  of  the  Russian  cabinet, 
from  the  reign  of  the  first  Peter  to  that  of  Alexander, 
to  render  their  country  a  great  naval,  as  well  as  a  great 
military  power.  The  dominion  of  the  Black  Sea,  of  the 
Morea,  of  the  Grecian  Archipelago,  of  Constantinople, 
of  some  ports  in  the  Mediterranean,  might  render  Rus- 
sia a  far  more  formidable  rival  on  the  ocean  to  England, 
than  she  has  ever  yet  found  in  Europe.  Lord  Nelson 
used  to  say,  "  that  in  encountering  with  French  ships 
the  best  way  was  to  run  along  side  and  board  them : 
but  with  Russian  ships  to  keep  at  a  distance,  and  ma- 
noeuvre." And  Russia  has  often  evinced  her  jealousy 
of  the  maritime  pre-eminence  of  Britain,  particularly 
when  she  led  the  armed  neutrality  in  1781,  under  Ca- 
tharine, and  in  1801,  under  Paul,  and  at  the  treaty  of 
Tilsit,  in  1807,  under  Alexander,  when  he  and  Napoleon 
stipulated,  that  Russia  might  take  possession  of  Turkey 
in  Europe,  and  pursue  her  conquests  in  Asia,  at  her  own 
discretion ; — that  she  should  assist  France  with  her  ma- 
rine for  the  conquest  of  Gibraltar ;  that  the  towns  in  Af- 
rica, as  Tunis,  Algiers,  Tripoli,  &c.  should  be  taken 
possession  of  by  France ;  that  no  peace  should  be  made 
with  England,  unless  the  island  of  Malta  be  ceded  to 
France ;  that  Egypt  be  occupied  by  the  French ;  that 
no  other  than  French,  Russian,  Spanish,  and  Italian  ves- 
sels be  permitted  to  navigate  the  Mediterranean;  that 
no  power  be  allowed  to  send  merchant-ships  to  sea,  un- 
less they  have  a  certain  number  of  ships  of  war. 

The  British  empire  in  India,  also,  has  been  long  an 
object  of  desire  to  Russia ;  and  Catharine,  at  one  time, 
projected  to  march  an  army  over  land,  to  drive  the 
English  from  the  Indian  Peninsula ;  and,  at  a  more  re- 
rent  period,  Alexander  and  Napoleon  agreed  to  accom* 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  477 

plish  this  scheme.  It  is  supposed  that  Britain  could  not 
prevent  the  occupation  of  Constantinople  by  the  Russian 
arms ;  and  that  any  one  of  her  able  generals,  with  a 
sufficient  body  of  troops,  might  march  strait  to  the 
Turkish  capital,  and  win,  and  hold  it,  in  spite  of  the 
world.  No  one  imagines  that  the  Turks,  themselves, 
could  defend  their  European  empire  against  the  undi- 
vided assaults  of  Russia,  who  might  well  alarm  all  the 
other  powers  of  Europe  for  their  independence,  if  she 
could  lay  her  schemes  for  their  subjugation,  in  her  two 
capitals  of  Constantinople  and  Petersburg!!.  It  is 
doubtful,  if  she  be  allowed  a  few  years  of  peace  to  or- 
ganize her  resources,  to  consolidate  her  strength,  to 
develope  her  schemes,  whether  or  not  a  coalition  of  the 
other  European  States  could  stop  her  progress  towards 
universal  dominion  in  that  quarter  of  the  world.  At  all 
events,  the  prodigious  preponderance  of  Russia  is  not 
likely  to  restore  the  balance  of  power,  nor  to  ensure 
the  perpetuity  of  peace  in  Europe.  See  Sir  Robert 
Wilson's  "  Sketches  of  the  power  of  Russia,"  for  facts 
proving  the  extent  of  her  alarming  strength ;  although  I 
by  no  means  subscribe  to  his  ultra  whiggish  inferences 
against  England,  who  certainly  means  to  survive  his 
predictions. 

In  glancing  the  eye  over  the  present  condition  of  the 
European  powers,  in  connexion  with  a  view  of  the  re- 
sources of  America,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the 
Strongly  marked  difference  between  all  the  governments 
of  the  (Jnited  States  and  those  of  other  countries.  In 
the  United  States  they  have  consisted,  from  their  com- 
mencement, of  written  constitutions,  of  certain  fixed 
codes ;  whereas,  in  other  countries,  they  have  grown 
up  incidentally,  from  existing  circumstances.  In  Hoi- 
land  and  France,  indeed,  written  constitutions  have  been 
lately  adopted;  which  appears  to  be  not  the  least  mo- 
mentous of  the  consequences  imposed  upon  Europe  by 
the  French  revolution ;  namely,  a  tendency  to  infuse  a 
greater  spirit  of  democracy  into  the  European  govern- 
ments. It  is  asserted,  likewise,  that  Prussia  and  Wir- 
tembergh,  and  some  other  of  the  continental  powers, 


47  £  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

propose  to  form  written  constitutions,  and  admit  the  re- 
presentative system  into  their  municipal  institutions. 
Prior  to  the  French  revolution,  ail  the  governments  of 
Europe  were  composed  amidst  the  chapter  of  accidents, 
and  time  arid  chance  were  their  nursing-mothers.  When 
the  government  of  imperial  Rome,  in  the  west,  was  sub- 
verted by  the  barbarous  tribes  of  Northern  Asia  and 
Northern  Europe,  the  victorious  nations  every  where 
established  an  elective  aristocracy,  consisting  of  an  elec- 
tive chief,  and  elective  nobles.  After  a  time  the  feudal 
system  grew  up  into  an  hereditary  monarchy  and  aris- 
tocracy ;  nevertheless,  some  traces  of  popular  liberty 
still  survived,  although  they  were  rendered  faint  and 
feeble  in  Spain,  by  the  abolition  of  the  cortes  ;  in  France, 
by  the  depression  of  the  tiers  etat ;  in  Denmark  and 
Sweden,  by  the  usurpations  of  the  sovereign  over  the 
privileges  of  the  nobles ;  in  Italy  and  Germany,  by  the 
combined  encroachments  of  both  nobles  and  sovereign 
upon  the  mass  of  the  people;  while,  in  England,  the 
gradual  advance  of  the  House  of  Commons,  or  demo- 
cratic branch  of  the  government,  eventually  rendered  it, 
at  least,  equal  to,  if  not  an  overmatch  for,  the  tw6  other 
branches,  consisting  of  an  hereditary  aristocracy,  and  an 
hereditary  monarchy.  Mr.  Burke  developes  this  sub- 
ject in  his  Regicide  Peace,  and  labours  to  show  that 
England  is  the  weakest,  and  revolutionary  France  the 
strongest,  of  all  the  European  governments. 

Indeed,  it  may  be  taken  as  a  general  proposition,  that 
the  more  free  a  government  is,  whatever  be  its  form, 
•whether  a  republic  or  a  monarchy,  the  more  it  consults 
and  provides  for  the  individual,  domestic,  and  national 
happiness  of  its  own  people,  the  less  able  it  is  to  watch 
over,  and  influence  the  actions  of  other  sovereignties  ; 
and  so  far  it  is  deficient  in  its  system  of  foreign  policy. 
And  this  defect  applies,  riot  only  to  its  diplomatic  de- 
partment, but  also  to  the  mode  of  conducting  its  foreign 
Avars  ;  in  the  management  of  which  it  never  exhibits  me 
secrecy,  despatch,  and  effective  energy  that  characterize 
the  military  operations  of  more  absolute  governments. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  479 

But  peace  and  war  are  the  great  hinges  upon  which 
the  safety  and  existence  of  nations  turn.  Diplomatic 
negotiations  are  the  means  of  making  peace  or  prevent- 
ing war ;  and  are,  therefore,  in  themselves,  and  in  their 
consequences,  of  more  serious  importance  than  any 
single  events  of  war  or  peace.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
affirm  that  England  has  suffered  and  lost  more  by  her 
unskilful  diplomacy,  during  the  ninety  years  which 
elapsed  from  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  to  the  peace 
of  Amiens,  in  1801,  including  both  those  deplorable  trea- 
ties, than  by  all  the  battles  she  has  fought  for  the  last 
five  centuries.  Yet  such  is  the  construction  of  her  in- 
ternal government;  so  well  adapted  is  it  to  secure  the 
personal  liberty,  promote  the  productive  industry,  and 
protect  the  individual  enjoyment  of  her  people  ;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  build  up  the  intrinsic,  permanent  strength 
of  the  nation,  that,  notwithstanding  the  frequent  blun- 
ders of  her  foreign  policy,  she  has,  in  spite  of  her  con- 
fined home  territory,  and  small  population,  raised  her- 
self to  the  rank  of  a  first-rate  power;  and,  in  more  than 
one  period  of  her  national  history,  has  been  the  saviour 
and  the  arbitress  of  Europe. 

The  French  revolution,  however,  has  materially  shat- 
tered and  deranged  the  political  fabric  of  England ;  by 
compelling  her  to  maintain  a  large  and  disproportionate 
military  force  ;  by  grievously  augmenting  the  public  ex- 
penditure and  taxation  ;  and  by  adding  seven  hundred 
millions  of  pounds  (more  than  three  thousand  millions 
of  dollars,)  to  the  national  debt.  That  revolution  has 
likewise  torn  up  from  their  foundations  all  the  govern- 
ments on  the  European  continent.  Into  what  forms  of 
civil  polity,  whether  into  a  preponderance  of  democracy, 
or  aristocracy,  or  monarchy,  the  states  of  Europe  will, 
eventually,  subside,  when  the  more  immediate  conse- 
quences of  the  French  revolution  shall  have  produced 
their  full  effect,  is  not  given  to  human  wisdom  to  fore- 
see. At  present,  the  representative  system,  which  is  the 
only  certain  and  permanent  basis  of  national  liberty,  pre- 
vails to  a  small  extent,  and  in  different  degrees,  in  Eu- 
rope :  for  example,  in  England,  Holland,  France,  and 


RESOURCES  Cft  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Sweden,  the  executive  and  nobles  are  hereditary,  and 
the  popular  representatives  elected ;  while  in  Switzer- 
land, the  executive  and  both  branches  of  the  legislature 
are  elective.  The  system  of  representation,  hitherto, 
has  gained  no  effectual  entrance  into  Spain,  or  Portugal, 
or  Italy,  or  Germany,  or  Russia,  containing,  altogether, 
a  population  of  one  hundred  and  forty-five  millions 
of  souls. 

There  seems,  however,  among  some  of  the  nations  of 
continental  Europe,  a  desire  to  imitate  the  Constitution 
of  England,  in  their  own  municipal  Institutions.  Indeed 
it  is  no  new  thing  for  continental  Europeans  to  admire 
and  praise  the  fabric  of  British  polity;  for  instance,  M. 
Montesquieu  has  devoted  the  whole  of  the  sixth  chapter 
of  the  eleventh  book  of  his  Esprit  des  Loix,  to  an  inves- 
tigation of,  and  eulogium  on,  the  English  Constitution; 
and  Voltaire,  in  his  letters  on  the  English  nation,  chap. 
21,  22,  follows  the  same  track;  and  M.  Gourville  also, 
expresses  similar  sentiments,  as  may  be  seen  in  Sir  Wil- 
liam Temple's  Memoirs.  To  these  may  be  added  the 
decisive  testimony  of  the  duke  de  la  Rochefaucault,  in 
the  Supplement  to  his  Reflections ;  and  the  incidental 
praises  of  many  of  the  best  French  historians,  from  the 
Sieur  de  Comines  to  father  Daniel.  Frederic  the  Se- 
cond of  Prussia,  likewise,  has  shown  his  acquaintance 
with,  and  his  approbation  of,  the  English  Constitution, 
in  his  Memoirs  of  the  House  of  Brandenburgh.  But 
the  fullest  and  ablest  account  of  the  British  polity  is 
given  by  De  Lolme,  who  says  expressly,  that  it  com- 
bines the  three  essentials  of  good  government,  namely, 
"  the  most  certain  protection,  the  exaction  of  the  least 
sacrifices,  and  the  capacity  of  progressive  improvement." 
Since  De  Lolme  wrote,  perhaps  the  weight  of  taxation, 
and  amount  of  the  national  debt  in  England,  may  incline 
sober  persons  to  modify  the  second  member  of  his  lau- 
datory sentence.  M.  Fouche,  in  his  celebrated  letter  to 
the  Duke  of  Wellington,  after  the  battle  of  Waterloo, 
says,  "that  the  establishment  in  France,  of  a  Constitu- 
tion similar  to  that  of  England,  would  be  a  sufficient 
recompense  to  her,  for  all  the  horrors  of  the  revolution; 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


461 


and  that  Frenchmen  do  not  desire  more,  nor  will  they 
be  contented  with  less  freedom,  than  the  British  nation 
enjoys." 

It  may  be  remarked,  that  some  of  the  wisest  men  of 
all  antiquity,  have  declared  their  conviction,  that  a  due 
blending  together  of  monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  demo- 
cracy, in  one  political  system,  would  be  me  best  form 
of  government,  if  it  could  ever  be  realized.  Plato,  in 
his  IloAiTMtoc',  says,  "  Movot^ot  rv%fiti<rct  ev  j^«ua*<r»v,  owp 
vo/xou:  Ag^o^gv,  *£»<rr>j  7r<jw«v,"  A  monarchy,  which  is  kept 
within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  laws,  is  the  best  form 
of  all.  In  his  fragments  of  a  Treatise  upon  a  Republic, 
Cicero  says,  "  Statuo  esse  optimam  constitutam  rempubli- 
catn,  qua?  ex  tribus  generibus  Jllis,  regali,  optimo,  et  po- 
pulari,  confusa  modice."  I  determine  that  to  be  the 
best  constructed  commonwealth,  which  is  temperately 
compounded  of  the  three  different  forms  of  government, 
the  rojal,  the  aristocratic,  and  democratic.  Tacitus,  in 
the  fourth  book  of  his  Annals,  says,  "  Cunctas  nationes, 
et  urbes,  populus,  aut  primores,  aut  singuli  regunt  ;  de- 
lecta  ex  his,  et  constituta  reipublicae  forma,  laudari  faci- 
lius  quarn  evenire  ;  v'el,  si  everiit,  haud  diuturna  esse 
potest;"  all  nations  and  cities  are  governed,  either  by 
the  people  at  large,  or  the  leading  men  of  the  commu- 
nity, or  a  single  sovereign  ;  the  frame  of  a  commonwealth, 
constructed  out  of  all  these  forms  of  government,  it  is 
more  easy  to  praise  than  to  establish  ;  and  if  ever  esta- 
blished, it  cannot  possibly  be  lasting.  Polybius,  in  the 
sixth  book  of  his  History,  says  "  A^AOV  y<x,%,  us  a^tffnr,v 
ryv  ex,  Travrwv  ruv 


TOUTOV  yotf>  TOU  jU€£fly?  OW  AO^W  jUtOVOV   OtAA       ItyU     7Tti(>OlV 

TJJOWW  TT^WTOW  KMT&  TOV  r^o^rov  TO 
for  it  is  evident  that  is  to  be  consi- 
dered the  best  form  of  government,  which  is  constituted 
from  all  these  three  simple  forms,  (of  democracy,  aris- 
tocracy, and  monarchy,)  already  enumerated;  and  of 
this  position,  we  have  had  proof,  not  in  theory  only,  but 
in  fact;  Lycurgus  having  established  the  first  model  of 
this  threefold  constitution  of  government,  in  the  system 
of  polity  which  he  framed  for  the  Lacedemonians. 

61 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  that  these  sentiments 
of  the  great  writers  of  antiquity,  and  the  praises  be- 
stowed upon  the  English  Constitution  by  continental 
Europeans,  were  all  pronounced  bejore  the  United 
States  had  given  Jo  the  world  an  example,  (yet  unfol- 
lowed,)  of  a  whole  people  meeting,  by  delegates,  in  a 
national  convention,  and  deliberately  framing  for  them- 
selves a  system  of  government,  purely  representative, 
altogether  elective;  as  well  in  the  executive,  as  in  both 
the  branches  of  the  legislature.  And  above  all,  it  is  to 
be  remembered,  that  the  form  of  government,  and  the 
legal  code  of  every  country,  are  then  most  natural,  and 
most  likely  to  last,  when  they  are  accommodated  to  the 
habits  and  disposition  of  the  people  among  whom  they 
are  established.  The  individual  materials  of  national 
strength,  can  never  be  fully  united  unless  the  will  and 
inclination  of  the  people,  be  combined  in  favour  of  the 
government.  The  union  of  this  inclination  and  will, 
makes  emphatically  the  state,  or  body  politic.  Laws 
themselves,  in  general,  are  nothing  more  than  the  ap- 
plication of  human  reason  and  experience  to  the  practi- 
cal concerns  of  social  life ;  and  the  laws,  civil  and  poli- 
tical, of  any  particular  country,  are  only  the  practical 
application  of  reason  and  experience  to  the  existing  in- 
terests of  that  particular  country.  Indeed,  they  are, 
generally,  so  exactly  fitted  to  the  people,  among  whom 
they  grow  up,  that  it  scarcely  ever  happens  that  the 
laws  of  one  nation  can  be  made  to  suit  the  habits  and 
dispositions  of  another  community;  whence  the  extreme 
folly  of  attempting  to  introduce,  suddenly,  new  laws  and 
a  new  government  into  any  country. 

The  Americans,  who  framed  a  form  of  representative 
government,  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, thitherto  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
and,  as  yet,  unimitated  by  other  nations,  were  the  de- 
scendants of  men,  who  had,  in  preceding  ages,  fled  from 
religious  persecution  arid  civil  oppression  in  England, 
and  sought  a  refuge  from  the  intolerance  of  the  old 
world  in  the  waste  and  wilderness  of  the  regions  of  the 
west.  These  men  cherished  an  hereditary  horror  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  433 

single  sovereignty,  of  feudal  aristocracy,  of  ecclesiastical 
dominion ;  and,  therefore,  in  their  constitutions,  whether 
of  the  separate  or  of  the  United  States,  abolished  all 
the  vestiges  of  royalty,  swept  away  every  ensign  of  no- 
bility, placed  every  religious  denomination  upon  the 
same  footing,  made  every  branch  of  their  government 
elective  and  popular,  provided  for  the  personal,  domes- 
tic, and  social  liberty  of  all  their  citizens,  and  laid  the 
foundations  of  their  whole  civil  polity,  broad  and  deep, 
in  the  soil  of  national  freedom. 

The  French  revolution  having,  in  its  consequences, 
abolished  the  feudal  system  on  the  European  continent, 
the  governments  in  Europe,  henceforth,  will  be  either 
military,  or  commercial,  or  both.  France,  Prussia, 
Austria,  and  Russia  lean  to  the  military,  while  Britain 
and  the  United  Netherlands  support  the  commercial 
system.  And,  in  proportion  as  the  one  or  the  other 
predominates,  will  the  nations  be  free  and  prosperous, 
or  enslaved  and  miserable.  In  their  extremes,  they  are 
incompatible ;  trade  cannot  flourish,  it  cannot  live  under 
the  withering  blasts  of  a  military  government ;  nor  can 
a  military  tyranny  exist  under  the  quickening  influence 
of  the  commercial  system.  The  prevalence  of  mercan- 
tile enterprise  implies  great  individual  liberty,  extensive 
national  credit,  abundant  wealth,  and  progressive  im- 
provement. The  military  system  makes  the  govern- 
ment all,  and  the  people  nothing ;  gives  to  the  single 
despot  the  property,  person,  industry,  mind,  will,  and 
life  of  all  his  slaves,  to  do  with  them  as  he  lists,  for  the 
forwarding  his  own  views  of  external  conquest,  internal 
aggrandizement,  sensual  sloth,  and  arbitrary  caprice. 

If  the  military  power  preponderates,  the  people  are 
crushed  beneatn  the  weight  of  their  fetters ;  and  igno- 
rance, idleness,  and  poverty  convert  the  finest  climate 
and  most  fertile  soil  into  a  desert  waste.  If  the  commer- 
cial spirit  predominates,  the  people  are  free,  and  indus- 
try, skill,  and  wealth  create  a  garden  of  Eden  out  of  the 
most  churlish  soil,  and  beneath  the  most  ungenial  sky. 
But,  in  order  to  ensure  at  once  the  individual  liberty  of 
the  people,  and  the  personal  strength  of  the  government. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

it  is  necessary  to  combine,  in  due  proportions,  the  military 
and  mercantile  systems.  Holland  was  merely  commer- 
cial ;  her  citizens  were,  individually,  free,  enterprising, 
and  opulent ;  but,  as  a  nation,  she  soon  fell  into  decay, 
and,  eventually,  into  extinction,  owing  to  the  weakness 
of  her  government,  which  was  unable  to  resist  the  pres- 
sure of  foreign  war  from  without,  combined  with  the 
turbulence  of  faction  within  the  bowels  of  the  state. 
Revolutionary  France  was  merely  military ;  her  people 
were  ground  down  to  the  dust  beneath  the  burden  of 
their  unmitigated  bondage ;  but  her  government,  abso- 
lute in  its  dominion  over  its  own  subjects,  was  porten- 
tous, and  terrible  in  power  to  other  nations;  against 
whom  it  could,  at  will,  direct  all  the  physical  and  intel- 
lectual resources  of  its  own  territory,  for  the  purpose  of 
extending  the  ravages  of  tyranny  over  a  larger  portion 
of  the  earth.  Britain  unites  military  power  with  com- 
mercial influence  in  her  system  of  government ;  whence 
her  people  are,  individually,  free,  industrious,  enterpris- 
ing, intelligent  and  wealthy ;  and  her  government  has 
sufficient  permanency  of  strength  to  protect  its  own 
subjects  from  injury,  to  punish  the  aggressions  of  other 
nations,  to  guard  the  weaker  powers  from  wrong,  to 
awe  the  mightier  sovereignties  into  justice  and  modera- 
tion; to  diffuse  the  blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
over  the  most  distant  regions  of  the  habitable  globe. 
It  was,  under  Providence,  owing  to  her  fortitude,  per- 
severance, and  public  spirit,  during  twenty-five  years  of 
unexampled  warfare,  that  continental  Europe  was,  at 
length,  rescued  from  the  thraldom  of  revolutionary 
France. 

There  is  one  objection  to  the  administration  of  the 
British  government,  which  requires  a  more  minute  no- 
tice. It  is  urged,  as  a  common  topic  of  reproach,  both 
in  England  and  in  these  United  States,  that  the  English 
government  does  not  employ  a  sufficient  portion  of  talent 
in  its  service.  This  complaint  is  natural  in  the  mouths 
of  the  opposition  in  Britain,  and  means  nothing  more, 
than  that  if  their  party  were  in  power,  the  government 
would  be  very  wisely  administered;  a  circumstance. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


which  must  be  left  to  the  votes  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land, when  they  elect  their  kinghts  and  burgesses  to 
represent  them  in  the  House  of  Commons.  This 
charge,  also,  is  quite  natural  in  the  English  reformers, 
who  clamour,  incessantly,  about  the  dulness  and  igno- 
rance, as  well  as  the  corruption  and  profligacy  of  the 
administration  ;  all  which  is  a  mere  effusion  of  disap- 
pointed malignity  and  rage,  because  the  talent,  skill, 
and  strength  of  the  government,  render  all  their  efforts  to 
destroy  the  country  vain  and  ineffectual.  'Such  language 
is  still  more  natural  in  the  United  States,  because  the 
Americans  do  not  often  witness  any  very  bright  speci- 
mens of  English  intellect,  either  in  the  private  citizens. 
who  come  out  here,  or  in  the  public  officers,  who  re- 
present their  government.  And  this  country  has  wit- 
nessed the  egregious  mismanagement  of  Britain  in  her 
mode  of  conducting  both  the  revolutionary  and  the  late 
war;  and  still  continues  to  see  the  marvellous  mal-ad- 
ministration  of  her  North  American  colonies,  which  ap- 
pear to  be  governed  by  the  mother  country,  for  the 
express  purpose  of  rendering  them  an  easy  prey  to  the 
United  States,  whenever  our  government  shall  enter 
into  a  national,  instead  of  a  party,  war  against  England. 
It  is  not,  indeed,  easy  to  defend  the  British  govern- 
ment against  the  charge  of  general  incapacity  in  its 
foreign  policy,  and  in  its  colonial  administration,  parti- 
cularly in  the  Canadas,  where  they  never,  by  any  acci- 
dent, employ  a  statesman  in  any  one  of  their  public  of- 
fices, civil,  legal,  or  military.  This  apparently  strange 
conduct  may  be,  however,  susceptible  of  some  explana- 
tion. It  is  admitted,  I  believe,  on  all  hands,  that  there 
exists  a  sufficient  quantity  of  talent  of  every  various 
gradation  in  Britain  ;  but  the  objection  is,  that  it  is  not 
employed  in  the  service  of  government,  which,  there- 
fore, labours  under  an  habitual,  permanent  imbecility. 
This  inference  is  incorrect  in  itself,  and  founded  on  er- 
roneous premises.  For  it  rests  on  the  assumption,  that 
all  the  great  talent  of  a  country  ought  to  be  employed 
in  the  guidance  of  its  government.  But,  if  this  were 
ever  to  take  place  in  any  nation,  it  would,  of  itself,  en- 


486  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

sure  a  perpetuity  of  resistless  despotism ;  because,  as 
power  has  always  a  natural  and  necessary  tendency  to 
increase  in  the  hands  of  its  holders,  all  the  existing 
great  talent  combined  together  would,  of  course,  bear 
down  into  hopeless  subjection,  the  general  mass  of  folly, 
ignorance,  and  weakness,  that  is  always  floating  in  every 
community. 

In  every  free  country  great  talent  is  necessary  to  ad- 
minister the  government  with  wisdom,  energy,  and  ef- 
fect; and  great  talent  is  also  necessary  to  constitute  a 
formidable  opposition  to  the  existing  administration  of 
government,  in  order  to  prevent  it  from  degenerating 
into  an  arbitrary  and  illegal  use  of  its  power,  and  to 
produce  a  most  salutary  exercise  of  the  understanding 
in  the  reciprocal  collision  of  mighty  intellects;  great 
talent  is  likewise  necessary  to  carry  on  the  learned  pro- 
fessions of  divinity,  physic,  and  law,  and  the  more  active 
occupations  of  the  army  and  navy,  to  enlarge  the 
boundaries  of  literature  and  science,  to  improve  the 
arts,  to  beautify,  adorn,  and  strengthen  the  interior  of 
the  country,  so  that  it  might  present  a  vast  aggregate 
amount  of  intelligence,  industry,  wealth,  population, 
physical  and  moral  strength,  for  the  government  to 
wield,  as  an  offensive  and  defensive  weapon,  with 
which  to  control  other  nations,  to  secure  its  own  inde- 
pendence, to  maintain  its  progression  in  power,  to  aug- 
ment its  resources,  to  consolidate  its  aggrandizement. 

It  is  not  disputed,  that  a  high  bounty  is  perpetually 
offered  for  the  exercise  of  the  greatest  talents  in  general 
science,  letters,  and  arts,  both  speculative  and  practical, 
by  the  vast  patronage,  public  and  private,  of  wealth  and 
honour,  in  Britain;  and  that  this  demand,  in  conse- 
quence, has  produced  the  most  splendid  and  successful 
effusions  of  genius  and  knowledge,  in  all  these  various 
departments  of  intellectual  pursuit.  To  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  past  and  present  situation  of  the 
British  empire,  no  proof  is  necessary  to  show,  that  there 
never  was  a  period  of  its  history,  in  which  so  much  ta- 
lent was  employed  in  all  the  departments  of  service  and 
pursuit,  whether  private  or  public,  as  is  now  put  into 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

constant  requisition !  And,  as  to  the  government  itself,  in 
the  guidance  of  which  so  great  a  deficiency  of  wisdom 
is  supposed  always  to  exist;  it  is  simply  impossible  to 
prevent  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  talent  and  informa- 
tion of  the  country,  from  being  constantly  employed  in 
carrying  on  the  administration  of  so  extensive  and  com- 
plicated a  system  of  policy  as  that  of  England,  which 
unites  great  energy  of  action  in  itself,  with  an  ample  ex- 
tent of  personal  liberty  to  its  people.  A  vast  amount  of 
intelligence,  skill,  experience,  discretion,  and  wisdom,  is 
required,  to  give  direction  to  her  immense  naval  and 
military  departments ;  to  marshal  and  guide  her  parlia- 
mentary troops  to  watch  over,  and  guard  the  political 
Well-being  of  her  established  national  church;  to  ma- 
nage and  conciliate  the  great  landed,  moneyed,  manufac- 
turing, and  commercial  interests  of  the  empire ;  to  con- 
tend, both  in  and  out  of  the  Senate,  with  an  incessant  and 
formidable  opposition,  of  wealth,  rank,  influence,  talent, 
and  learning,  employed  in  declaiming,  writing,  and  act- 
ing against  all  its  measures,  whether  right  or  wrong, 
from  the  most  important,  down  to  the  least  significant  of 
its  transactions. 

In  examining  the  position,  that  Britain  never  employs 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  talent  in  the  administration  of  her 
government,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  it  is  easier  to 
guide  the  movements  of  a  machine  already  made,  and 
the  uses  of  which  are  known,  than  to  make  the  machine 
and  set  it  in  motion.  A  well-established  government, 
like  that  of  England,  does  not  require  all  the  highest 
talents  of  the  country  to  be  crowded  into  the  administra- 
tion. Having  grown  up  in  the  habits?  affections,  and 
feelings  of  the  people,  its  business  can  be  regulated,  and 
energetically  carried  on,  by  the  superintending  genius 
of  a  few  great  men,  to  guide  its  primary  movements ; 
and  by  men  of  decent,  respectable  talents,  to  execute  its 
subordinate  functions.  The  residue  of  its  greatest  and 
most  commanding  talents  would  be  employed  to  the 
best  advantage,  in  diffusing  the  lights  of  science,  art, 
and  literature,  over  the  whole  community.  A  wide  field 
for  the  production  and  display  of  great  talent  is  opened 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATED. 

in  England,  by  always  calling  a  respectable  portion  of 
high  intellect  into  the  service  of  the  government;  by  oc- 
casionally raising  up  powerful  minds,  from  the  middle, 
and  lower  orders  of  the  people,  to  the  great  offices  of 
state,  and  thus  perpetually  fanning  the  flame  of  honour- 
able competition ;  and  by  encouraging  the  exertions  of 
genius  in  every  various  department  of  scientific  and  lite- 
rary pursuit,  by  rewards  and  honours.  Perseverance 
in  large  and  liberal  study,  and  a  regular  adherence, 
through  successive  ages,  to  the  great  fixed  principles  of 
moral  and  political  science,  have  raised  and  maintained 
the  national  spirit,  and  rendered  its  government,  laws, 
intelligence,  agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce,  and 
marine,  at  once  the  envy  and  admiration  of  the  surround- 
ing world.  The  exhibitions  of  great  talents  always  fol- 
low the  demand  for  their  display;  and  no  effectual 
bounty  can  be  offered  for  their  general  appearance,  ex- 
cept in  a  free  country,  whose  civil  and  military  institu- 
tions are  on  a  large  and  magnificent  scale,  holding  out 
the  only  adequate  incitements  of  wealth,  influence,  ho- 
nour, and  power,  for  their  full  developement. 

It  is  a  question  of  great  importance  for  the  statesman 
to  decide,  how  far  the  letting  how  a'l  the  talents  of  a 
community,  would  unsettle  ever?  thing,  and  fix  nothing  ? 
Certain  land-marks,  and  boundaries  of  authority  and 
habit,  are  necessary  to  govern  men.  If  the  judiciary, 
for  example,  were  not  by  the  veneration  attached  to 
their  high  office,  to  restrain  the  license  of  the  bar,  no 
business  could  be  transacted  in  a  court  of  justice  ;  but 
all  the  time  necessary  for  the  trial  and  determination  of 
legal  suits,  would  be  consumed  in  the  clashing  of  judi- 
cial with  forensic  intellect.  And  the  same  disorder 
would  prevail,  under  similar  circumstances,  throughout 
all  the  departments  of  a  government.  Whence,  it  ap- 
pears both  wise  and  necessary  to  establish  habits  of  im- 
plicit obedience  to  authority,  to  call  a  due  portion  of 
high  talent  into  the  administration,  and  to  reward,  by 
public  applause  and  patronage,  the  exertions  of  genius 
and  the  display  of  knowledge,  in  all  the  various  branches 
of  intellectual  inquiry.  The  two  only  aristocracies  of 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

human  nature,  talent,  and  property  must  govern  every 
country,  or  it  will  infallibly  be  destroyed,  either  by 
foreign  conquest  or  domestic  tyranny.  But  talent  is 
merely  personal  and  fleeting,  while  property  is  fixed 
and  permanent,  accumulating  through  successive  gene- 
rations, and  consequently  gives  a  poise  and  stability  to 
the  community. 

If  talent  alone  have  sway,  it  produces  a  perpe- 
tual vibration  of  society  from  scheme  to  scheme,  by 
its  clashing  interests  and  discordant  collisions.  But 
property,  whether  it  belongs  to  a  wise  or  a  weak  posses- 
sor, is  in  its  nature  stable:  is  a  balance-wheel,  which 
keeps  the  main-spring  of  talent  from  dashing  the  machi- 
nery of  society  to  pieces;  and  in  old  well-established 
governments,  the  weight  of  property,  by  opposing  the 
too  rapid  rise  of  talent,  renders  the  talent  which  ulti- 
mately rises,  more  mature,  more  powerful  to  combine 
the  joint  forces  of  experience,  discretion,  wisdom,  and 
foresight,  for  the  public  service ;  and  thus  ensures  a 
continual  succession  of  able,  and  well-trained  men,  in  all 
the  great  departments  of  State.  In  France,  the  revolu- 
tionary politicians  did  actually  destroy,  the  influence  of 
property,  and  give  to  talent  an  undivided  sway.  What 
was  the  consequence? — an  incessant  hurrying  of  the 
•whole  community  from  one  scheme  of  theoretic  insanity 
to  another;  from  one  set  of  tyrants  to  another;  until  a 
military  despotism  fixed  all  the  nation  in  the  frost  of 
universal  bondage. 

It  requires  a  whole  life  of  labour  and  wisdom,  directed 
to  the  prosecution  of  mental  and  moral  improvement,  to 
build  up  the  exalted  character  of  a  single  individual ; 
what,  then,  is  necessary,  in  order  to  construct  the  per- 
manent greatness,  and  magnificent  exaltation,  of  a  whole 
community  ?  Mr.  Burke,  after  long  and  profound  re- 
flection upon  the  different  forms  of  government,  both 
ancient  and  modern,  concluded,  that  nothing  short  of 
the  hereditary  transmission  of  property,  and  civil  polity, 
through  a  long  series  of  ages,  is  adequate  to  rear  a  na- 
tion into  extensive  arid  durable  power.  And  yet  Rome, 
during  the  space  of  eight  hundred  years,  made  herself 

62 


490  ;R£SOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

absolute  mistress  of  the  greater  part  of  the  then  known 
world,  without  the  aid,  either  of  an  hereditary  civil  poli- 
ty, or  an  hereditary  transmission  of  property.  Undoubt- 
edly, the  number  of  great  discoveries,  or  improvements, 
which  have  been  suddenly  made,  in  any  branch  of  know- 
ledge, is  extremely  small.  For  example,  the  greatest 
discovery  in  the  science  of  political  economy,  the  balan- 
cing system,  has  been  gradually  unfolded  by  the  obser- 
vation and  experience  of  several  centuries.  That  vast- 
theory  of  political  expediency  regulates  the  mutual  ac- 
tions of  contiguous  nations ;  subjects  each  to  the  influ- 
ence of  others,  however  remote ;  connects  all  together 
by  one  common  principle;  regulates  the  movements  of 
the  whole ;  and  maintains  the  order  of  the  stupendous, 
complicated  system  of  modern  Christendom. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  balancing  system  pre- 
served Europe  from  subjugation  to  the  Emperor  Charles 
the  Fifth  ;  in  the  seventeenth  century  it  rescued  Europe 
from  the  grasp  of  French  dominion,  under  Louis  the 
Fourteenth ;  in  the  nineteenth  century  it  broke  the 
chains  of  slavery,  which  Napoleon  Buonaparte  was  cast- 
ing over  the  whole  civilized  world ;  and  ere  the  close  of 
this  same  century,  probably,  all  its  efforts  will  be  want- 
ed to  stop  the  progress  of  Russia  towards  universal  su- 
premacy. 

In  a  community  where  the  legislature  is  composed  of 
the  effective  aristocracy  of  the  country ;  that  is  to  say, 
of  the  best  birth,  talent,  wealth,  and  character  of  the 
country ;  where  the  officers  of  the  government  sit  in 
the  representative  assembly  ;  and  where  large  and  libe- 
ral salaries  are  allowed  to  the  public  servants — there 
must  always  be  a  great  portion  of  intelligence  in  the 
administration;  and  the  affairs  and  destinies  of  the  coun- 
try, whether  domestic  or  foreign,  are  but  little  liable  to 
be  influenced  or  deranged  by  the  occurrence  of  acci- 
dental, unforeseen,  or  sudden  events.  For  instance,  the 
death  of  a  civil  or  military  chief,  who  had  supported  the 
greatness  of  the  state  by  the  vigour  and  wisdom  of  his 
councils,  or  by  the  glory  of  his  arms,  is  seldom,  if  ever, 
the  cause  of  great  change,  either  in  the  positive  strength 

f 


.RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


491 


or  the  relative  importance  of  such  a  country.  Four  of 
the  greatest  men,  in  their  respective  departments,  whom 
England  ever  produced,  all  died  within  the  space  of  two 
years;  these  illustrious  men  were  Lord  Nelson,  Mr. 
Pitt,  Mr.  Fox,  and  Lord  Thurlow;  nevertheless,  the 
British  empire,  although  deprived  of  the  stupendous 
talents,  the  vast  experience,  the  political  wisdom,  the 
daring  and  felicitous  heroism  of  these  exalted  charac- 
ters, bore  herself  steadily  onward,  and  grappling,  single- 
handed,  with  a  whole  world  in  arms  against  her,  finally 
redeemed  all  Europe  from  bondage,  and  placed  herself 
upon  the  pinnacle  of  national  glory. 

Such  important  and  salutary  results  can  only  occur 
in  representative  governments ;  they  can  never  be  pro- 
duced either  in  a  single  despotism  or  in  an  unbalanced 
democracy;  both  of  which  systems  depend  upon  the 
temporary  exaltation  of  single  individuals,  for  their  own 
momentary  ascendency.  Neither  of  these  forms  of  go- 
vernment provides  for  the  training  up  of  great  men  for 
the  public  service,  in  any  regular  succession.  The  truth 
of  this  position  is  exemplified  in  the  whole  history  of 
the  Asiatic  despotisms ;  the  different  kingdoms  of  which 
alternately  rise  into  influence  over,  or  sink  into  depend- 
ence upon,  their  neighbours,  as  they  happen  to  be  go- 
verned by  an  able,  active,  and  warlike,  or  a  weak,  indo- 
lent, and  dastardly  monarch.  Nay,  almost  within  our 
own  remembrance,  Frederic  the  Second  of  Prussia,  by 
the  exertions  of  his  single  political  and  military  talents, 
raised  his  kingdom  from  a  very  inferior  rank,  to  that  of 
a  first-rate  European  power.  But,  after  his  death,  his 
successors,  not  possessing  his  genius  or  activity,  were 
first  conquered  and  stripped  of  half  their  dominions,  by 
revolutionary  France,  and  then  leaned  upon  Russia  for 
the  preservation  of  the  miserable  remnant  of  their  na- 
tional existence.  In  ancient  story  the  democracy  of 
Thebes  was  great  and  flourishing,  and  domineered  over 
all  Greece,  as  long  as  Pelopidas  and  Epaminondas  led 
her  armies,  and  guided  her  councils ;  but  as  soon  as 
these  two  great  men  died,  Thebes  fell  rapidly  into  the 
degradation  of  national  insignificance  and  contempt. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Athens,  whenever  an  able  statesman  was  in  office,  was 
an  overmatch  for  all  the  other  Grecian  republics  ;  this 
was  particularly  shown,  during  the  administration  of 
Pisistratus,  and  Pericles  ;  but  whenever  her  more  igno- 
rant and  noisy  demagogues  took  the  lead,  she  invariably 
bowed  her  head  beneath  the  military  ascendency  of  her 
aristocratic  rival,  Lacedcemon.  As  long  as  Rome  re- 
mained a  military  aristocracy,  she  produced  a  regular 
succession  of  great  statesmen  and  warriors,  and  went  on 
steadily  for  several  centuries,  conquering  the  whole 
world.  But  as  soon  as  she  became  an  unbalanced  de- 
mocracy, she  fell  into  internal  anarchy  and  weakness, 
sunk  into  single  military  despotism ;  and  was  finally 
burned  up,  both  in  her  eastern  and  western  thrones,  by 
the  victorious  watchfires  of  the  Asiatic  Saracens  and 
Turks,  and  of  the  European  barbarians  of  the  north. 
Nay,  revolutionary  France,  herself,  fell  in  the  fall  of 
her  military  tyrant. 

But  in  extensive,  and  well-balanced  communities, 
which  unite  strength  in  the  government  with  liberty  in 
the  people,  great  men  are  continually  rising  up  amidst 
the  existing  exigencies ;  they  are  disciplined  to  excel- 
lence in  particular  schools,  whether  civil  or  military ; 
they  regularly  train. up  able  and  adequate  successors  for 
themselves,  when  they  shall  retire  from  public  conflict, 
into  the  arms  of  death,  or  of  quiescent  age ;  they  are 
incessantly  called  forth  by  the  pressing  emergencies  of 
national  affairs. 

Lord  Castlereagh  had  from  his  earliest  youth  exhibit- 
ed the  marks  of  great  talent,  the  efforts  of  which  he 
always  seconded  by  habitual  industry  and  application; 
but  he  actually  astonished  all  his  friends,  and  quite  con- 
founded all  his  enemies,  by  the  transcendent  mind  which 
he  displayed  in  those  political  negotiations,  that  led  to 
the  deliverance  of  Europe  from  the  extreme  degradation 
of  universal  bondage.  In  the  year  1812,  he  concluded 
a  convention  with  Sweden,  at  a  time  when  it  was  gene- 
rally supposed  that  the  Crown  Prince  Bernadotte  was 
in  close. league  with  Buonaparte,  for  the  destruction  of 
Russia,  rfe  was  repeatedly  warned  of  his  danger  iu 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  493 

the  House  of  Commons ;  his  answer  was,  that  he  was 
well  aware  of  the  difficulty  and  delicacy  of  such  a  nego- 
tiation ;  but  that,  in  the  existing  crisis  of  Europe,  and  of 
the  world,  he  was  willing  to  run  all  the  hazard,  and  take 
upon  himself  all  the  responsibility,  of  that  perilous  trans- 
action. In  the  year  1814,  he  Avent  over  to  Chatillon, 
in  France,  where  he  found  the  allied  powers  of  Russia, 
Austria,  and  Prussia,  dispirited  by  five  successive  defeats, 
which  their  armies  had  experienced,  and  inclined  to  con- 
clude a  peace  with  Buonaparte.  But  Lord  Castlereagh 
again  took  upon  himself  the  enormous  responsibility  of 
refusing  to  negotiate,  on  the  part  of  England,  until  the 
French  revolutionary  system  was  destroyed,  by  the  de- 
thronement of  Napoleon,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons. 

What  a  responsibility  was  this !  If  Buonaparte  had 
succeeded  in  rousing  the  spirit  of  the  French  people, 
and  in  levying  armies  sufficiently  numerous  to  enable 
him  to  overwhelm  the  allied  squadrons,  Castlereagh's 
name  would  have  been  handed  down  to  everlasting  exe- 
cration, as  the  destroyer  of  Europe,  by  his  own  obsti- 
nacy and  short-sightedness.  If  the  allies  had  rejected 
his  advice,  and  concluded  a  separate  peace  with  Napo- 
leon, Castlereagh  would  have  been  stigmatized  as  the 
destroyer  of  England,  by  again  arming  all  the  millions 
of  the  European  continent,  in  a  fresh  coalition,  and  with 
increased  rancour,  against  her  alone.  But,  as  his  great 
mind  peered  above  the  intellects  of  the  allied  statesmen, 
he  distinctly  saw,  that  perseverance  and  daring  alone, 
were  wanting  to  crown  the  exertions  of  humanity  with 
success,  and  redeem  the  world  from  the  pressure  of  mi- 
litary despotism;  and  as  the  allies  followed  his  counsel 
to  victory,  to  the  capture  of  Paris,  the  overthrow  of  Na- 
poleon, and  the  reinstating  of  the  Bourbons  on  the  throne 
of  their  ancestors,  Lord  Castlereagh  deserves  the  most 
honourable  appellation  of  the  pacificator  of  Europe, 
the  deliverer  of  England. 

The  main  object  of  every  country  should  be,  to  remove 
all  political  impediments  and  checks  to  the  rising  of  suck 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

men  into  the  high  public  stations,  for  which  their  natu- 
ral faculties  and  acquired  information  so  peculiarly  fit 
them.  Under  a  free  representative  government,  whose 
national  institutions  and  departments  of  public  service, 
both  civil  and  military,  are  extensive  and  magnificent, 
the  restrictions  upon  the  rise  of  real  merit  are  much 
fewer,  and  less  pernicious  than  under  a  single  despotism, 
or  an  unbalanced  democracy;  and  the  road  to  legiti- 
mate preferment,  is  extended  to  a  much  wider  circle. 
Whence,  in  those  countries,  much  less  consequence  may 
be  attached  to  the  existence,  or  loss  of  any  particular 
great  man;  because  the  appearance  of  those  illustrious 
characters,  in  whose  hands  the  national  destinies  are 
placed,  is  not  regulated  by  accident;  but  is  provided  for 
in  regular  succession,  from  age  to  age,  by  the  internal  or- 
ganization, and  ordinary  administration  of  government. 
Thus,  Chatham  was  reproduced  in  Pitt,  and  Pitt  reap- 
pears in  Castlereagh  arid  Canning.  Mr.  Brougham,  in 
his  "  Colonial  Policy,"  discusses  this  subject  at  length, 
and  with  vast  ability. 

These  observations,  respecting  the  best  means  of 
training  up,  and  preparing  a  regular  succession  of  great 
men  for  the  public  service  of  the  nation,  might  be  illus- 
trated by  an  analysis  of  the  internal,  or  home  govern- 
ment of  England ;  whose  system  of foreign  policy,  how- 
ever, as  it  consists  in  the  prosecution  of  external  war- 
fare, in  the  ordinary  transactions  of  diplomacy  with  other 
nations,  and  in  the  extraordinary  negotiations  for  peace 
with  her  enemies,  is,  in  general,  very  defective,  and  ought 
to  be  improved.  Her  mode  of  conducting  the  war  in 
Spain,  France,  and  Flanders,  from  the  year  1808  to 
1815,  and  her  negotiations  for  the  peace  of  Europe,  in 
1814  and  1815,  are  magnificent  exceptions  to  the  usual 
imbecility  and  errors  of  her  foreign  policy.  But  not- 
withstanding all  her  imperfections  and  difficulties,  there 
is  yet  sufficient  ground  to  expect  that  Britain  will  be 
able  to  weather  the  storm,  and  again  lift  her  head  on 
high,  above  the  waves  of  revolutionary  violence  and 
foreign  assault,  that  beat  with  unceasing  tide  against  all 
her  mo^t  venerable  establishments. 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UXITED  STATES. 


This  expectation  is  founded  on  the  prevalence  of 
pure  .  religion  and  sound  morals,  throughout  her  do- 
minions; her  well-balanced  government,  her  free  and 
equal  laws,  her  pure  and  unstained  administration  of 
justice,  her  lofty  and  unyielding  spirit,  her  talents,  learn- 
ing, and  intelligence,  and  the  industry,  enterprise,  and 
perseverance  of  her  people.  All  these,  we  trust,  under 
the  blessing  of  Providence,  will  enable  her  to  stand 
erect  and  unmoved,  in  spite  of  the  pressure  of  her 
finances,  the  deficiency  of  her  revenue,  the  vast  amount 
of  her  public  expenditure,  the  diminution  of  her  com- 
merce, the  rage  of  her  reformers,  the  defects  of  her 
foreign  policy,  as  well  in  diplomacy  as  in  war,  the  ha- 
tred and  intrigues  of  France,  the  fear  and  jealousy  of 
the  United  Netherlands,  the  preponderance  of  Russia, 
and  the  growing  power  and  deadly  enmity  of  the  United 
States.  While  Britain  remains  pre-eminent,  the  liber- 
ties of  Europe  are  safe;  when  she  falls,  the  light,  moral 
and  intellectual,  of  that  portion  of  the  earth,  will  be 
extinguished  in  Egyptian  darkness.  As  Britain,  how- 
ever, cannot  enlarge  her  own  home  territory,  nor  con- 
tend with  Russia  on  the  land,  it  is  her  imperative  duty 
to  increase  her  maritime  resources^  by  adding  the  Gre- 
cian Isles,  Cuba,  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  and  the  junction 
of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  to  her  empire,  in  order  to 
place  herself  in  so  commanding  a  situation,  as  to  be  able 
to  save  Europe  once  more,  in  the  event  of  Russia's 
hereafter  menacing  that  quarter  with  subjugation,  as 
revolutionary  France  has  so  recently  done. 

The  recent  extinction  of  lineal  royalty  in  Britain  is. 
indeed,  an  awful  dispensation  to  an  hereditary  monar- 
chy. But  there  never  went  by  an  hour  in  the  tide  of 
time,  when  the  national  destinies  of  twenty  millions  of  a 
free  and  enlightened  people  hung  suspended  upon  the 
life  or  death  of  any  individual,  however  exalted  in  rank, 
talent,  or  virtue.  This  calamitous  event  —  the  untimely 
death  of  a  lovely  woman,  an  empire's  pride  and  hope. 
has  called  forth  the  clamorous  joy  of  many  of  our  more 
ardent  politicians,  as  portending  the  speedy  dissolution 
of  the  British  government  ;  wHich,  however,  will,  most 


496  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

probably,  survive  its  present,  as  it  has  outlived  many 
generations  of  its  past,  enemies. 

The  result  of  all  this  is,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
prudent  government,  while  it  acknowledges  the  supre- 
macy of  the  Governor  among  the  nations,  in  whose 
hands  are  the  issues  of  life  and  death,  to  avail  itself 
of  all  the  means  in  its  power,  to  confirm  and  strengthen 
the  prosperity  of  the  people  committed  to  its  charge. 
Wherefore,  considering  the  precarious  condition  of 
Europe,  its  germinant  and  springing  seeds  of  disor- 
der, the  little  probability  of  readjusting  its  balance  of 
power,  or  of  preserving  its  peace  for  any  considerable 
length  of  time,  the  difficulty  of  preventing  the  United 
States  from  being  embroiled  in  the  general  conflict,  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  wealth,  population,  and  power,  the 
continual  enlargement  of  their  territories,  and  the  con- 
stant multiplication  of  new  States,  our  general  govern- 
ment ought,  immediately,  to  lay  the  foundation,  broad 
and  deep,  of  a  solid  system  of  internal  finance ;  that  it 
might  have  the  command  of  an  ample  and  a  growing 
revenue,  arising  out  of  the  territorial  resources  of  the 
country,  for  the  purposes  of  admininistering  the  home 
department  liberally  and  effectively;  of  conducting  its 
foreign  policy  vigorously  and  magnificently  ;  of  promot- 
ing the  progress  of  letters  and  science,  and  every  spe- 
cies of  internal  improvement;  of  training  up,  in  regular 
succession,  able  men  for  the  public  service,  and  reward- 
ing their  labours  splendidly;  of  establishing  the  national 
credit  on  an  imperishable  basis,  so  as  to  be  able  to  raise 
any  amount  of  money  by  voluntary  loans,  in  the  event 
of  any  sudden  emergency,  as  the  breaking  out  of  war, 
or  of  a  long-continued  demand,  in  case  of  a  protracted 
conflict  for  sovereignty,  or  aggrandizement,  or  exist- 
ence. 

The  President  seems  to  be  aware  of  the  necessity  of 
giving  to  the  United  States  all  possible  means  of  offen- 
sive and  defensive  strength,  when,  in  his  Message  to 
Congress,  on  the  2d  of  December,  1817,  he  states  the 
public  credit  to  be  at  an  extraordinary  elevation;  the  pre- 
parations for  defence,  in  future  wars,  to  be  advancing 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

under  a  well-digested  system ;  the  general  government 
to  be  daily  gaining  strength;  local  jealousies  to  be  ra- 
pidly yielding  to  more  generous,  enlarged,  and  en- 
lightened views  of  national  policy ;  the  militia  of  the 
several  States  to  amount  to  eight  hundred  thousand 
men,  infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry,  great  part  of  which 
is  already  armed,  and  measures  are  taken  to  arm  the 
whole,  and  Congress  is  recommended  to  improve  its 
organization  and  discipline.  The  Message  also  states, 
that  the  regular  army  amounts  nearly  to  the  number 
required  by  law,  and  is  stationed  along  the  Atlantic  and 
inland  frontiers ;  that  of  the  naval  force  strong  squad- 
rons are  maintained  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico ;  that  by  lands  recently  purchased  from 
the  Indians,  bordering  on  Lake  Erie,  and  from  the 
Cherokees,  the  United  States  will  be  enabled  to  extend 
their  settlements  from  the  inhabited  parts  of  the  State 
of  Ohio,  along  Lake  Erie,  into  the  Michigan  Territory, 
and  to  connect  their  settlements,  by  degrees,  through 
the  State  of  Indiana  and  the  Illinois  Territory,  to  that 
of  Missouri ;  and  a  similar  advantageous  effect  will  soon 
be  produced  to  the  south,  through  the  whole  extent  of 
the  States  and  Territory  which  border  on  the  waters  that 
empty  themselves  into  the  Mississippi  and  the  Mobile  ; 
thus  affording  security  to  our  inland  frontiers ;  and  a 
strong  barrier,  consisting  of  our  own  people,  planted  on 
the  lakes,  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Mobile,  with  the  pro- 
tection of  a  few  regular  troops,  effectually  to  curb  all 
Indian  hostility.  A  few  great  fortifications  along  the 
coasts,  and  at  some  points  in  the  interior  connected 
with  it,  will  ensure  the  safety  of  our  towns,  and  the 
commerce  of  our  great  rivers,  from  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
to  the  Mississippi.  From  all  this  will  spring  a  rapid 
augmentation  in  the  value  of  all  public  lands,  and  emi- 
grations be  facilitated  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the 
Union.  Several  new  States  have  been  created  to  the 
west  and  south,  and  territorial  governments  organized 
over  every  place  where  there  is  vacant  land  for  sale ; 
whence  an  immense  increase  of  our  population  is  to  be 

63 


498  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

expected,  at  once  augmenting  the  wealth  and  strength 
of  the  whole  country. 

But  all  these  bright  prospects  are  clouded  by  Mr. 
Monroe's  saying,  at  the  close  of  his  Message,  that  the 
revenue  arising  from  imports  and  tonnage,  and  from  the 
sale  of  public  lands,  will  be  adequate  to  support  the  civil 
government,  the  present  military  and  naval  establish- 
ments, including  the  annual  augmentation  of  the  navy; 
and  provide  for  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the  na- 
tional debt,  and  its  gradual  extinction,  without  the  aid  of 
internal  taxes ;  wherefore  he  recommends  Congress  to 
repeal  them.  Now  it  is  sinning  against  all  past  expe- 
rience, and  all  the  most  approved  principles  of  political 
philosophy,  to  endeavour  to  carry  on  a  government 
without  any  system  of  internal  taxation  in  time  of  peace  ; 
and  when  war  breaks  out,  then,  to  begin  to  tax,  when  the 
diminution  of  revenue  and  the  increasing  necessities  of 
the  people  peculiarly  indispose,  and  disable  them  from 
bearing  the  imposition  of  new  burdens ;  whereas  inter- 
nal taxes,  laid  during  peace,  and  so  adjusted  as  to  in- 
crease in  productiveness  with  the  national  growth  in  po- 
pulation and  wealth,  Avill  easily  admit  of  such  a  gradual 
augmentation  in  time  of  war,  as  not  to  press  too  heavily 
on  the  community,  and  at  the  same  time  most  materially 
to  strengthen  and  establish  the  public  credit;  which, 
ft/owe,  can  enable  a  government  to  call  out  and  effectual- 
ly wield  the  resources  of  the  country,  so  as  to  secure  its 
permanent  prosperity,  power,  and  reputation. 

As  soon  as  Congress  met  in  December,  1817,  they 
passed  a  bill  through  both  houses,  for  the  repeal  of  the 
internal  duties,  which  the  President  immediately  signed ; 
and  the  law  now  is,  that  the  United  States  government 
have  no  internal  revenue.  And  yet,  probably,  the  recent 
occupation  of  Amelia  Island  by  our  American  troops, 
under  the  provisions  of  the  secret  act  of  Congress,  passed 
in  1811,  but  not  published  till  December,  1817,  will, 
ere  long,  call  for  a  large  appropriation  of  the  public 
money.  Is  Cuba  to  follow  the  fate  of  Amelia;  and  are 
our  land  limits  to  be  stretched  beyond  the  horizon  of 
Mexico  ? 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  499 

P.  S.  Since  the  foregoing  sheets  were  printed,  the 
Treasury  documents  for  1817  have  been  received;  from 
them  the  following  summary  is  extracted : — 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT, 

16th  January,  1818. 
SIR, 

I  have  the  honour  to  transmit  a  statement  of  the 
exports  of  the  United  States,  during  the  year  ending 
the  30th  September,  1817,  amounting,  in  value,  on 
articles 

Of  domestic  produce  or  manufacture,  to      $68,313,500 
Of  foreign  produce  or  manufacture,  to  19,358,069 

887,671,569 


Which  articles  appear  to  have  been  exported  to  the  fol- 
lowing countries,  viz. 

Domestic.  Foreign. 
To  the  northern  countries  of 

Europe,  83,828,563  2,790,408 

To  the  dominions  of  the  Nether- 
lands,      3,397,775  2,387,543 

Do.         of  Great  Britain,    41,431,168  2,037,074 

Do.         of  France, 9,717,423  2,717,395 

Do.         of  Spain, 4,530,156  3,893,780 

Do.         of  Portugal,    ....     1,501,237  333,586 

All  other,  3,907,178  5,198,283 


$68,313,500  19,358,069 

I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

Very  respectfully,  Sir, 

Your  most  obt.  servant, 

WILLIAM  H.  CRAWFORD. 
The  Hon.  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 


JUaSOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

By  this  Report  it  appears  that  there  were  exported 
from  the  United  States,  from  the  1st  day  of  October, 
1816,  to  the  30th  day  of  September,  1817,  of  the  growth 
and  manufacture  of  the  United  States,  17,751,376  dol- 
lars worth  of  flour,  and  23,127,614  dollars  worth  of  cot- 
ton, making  in  these  two  items  alone  40,278,990  dollars. 
The  whole  value  of  exports  for  the  same  year,  including 
foreign  articles,  amounts  to  87,671,569  dollars.  Of  this 
sum  18,707,433  was  exported  from  the  port  of  New- 
York. 

Summary  of  the  value  of  exports  from  each  State. 


States. 

Domestic. 

Foreign. 

Total. 

New-Hampshire, 

170,599 

26,825 

197,424 

Vermont, 

913,201 



913,201 

Massachusetts, 

5,908,416 

6,019,571 

11,987,997 

Rhode-Island, 

577,911 

3,72,556 

950,467 

Connecticut, 

574,290 

28,949 

604,139 

New-York, 

13,660,533 

5,046,700 

18,70,7433 

New-Jersey, 

5,849 

5,849 

Pennsylvania, 

5,538,003 

3,197,589 

8,735,592 

Delaware, 

38,771 

6,083 

48,454 

Maryland, 

5,887,884 

3,046,046 

8,933,930 

Dist.  of  Columbia, 

1,689,102 

79,556 

1,768,658 

Virginia, 

5,561,238 

60,204 

5,611,442 

North-Carolina, 

9,55,211 

1,369 

956,680 

South-Carolina, 

9,944,343 

428,270 

10,372,613 

Georgia, 

8,530,831 

259,883 

8,790,714 

Ohio, 

7,749 

7,749 

Louisiana, 

8,241,254 

783,558 

9402,812 

Territory  of  U.S 

.      108,115 



108,115 

Total  68,343,500    19,358,069     87,671,569 


APPENDIX, 

Containing  some  few  Miscellaneous  Matters,  omitted  in  the 
preceding  pages. 


oINCE  the  Chapter  on  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  been  printed  off,  it  haa  been  suggested  as  a 
desideratum,  that  a  table  of  the  rates  of  pay,  or  wages, 
allowed  to  our  public  servants,  whether  at  home  or 
abroad,  should  be  given,  in  order  to  show  what  pecuni- 
ary incitements  to  ambition  are  applied  to  the  Govern- 
ors, Ambassadors,  Judges,  and  other  public  functiona- 
ries of  the  American  Commonwealth.  The  consequen- 
ces of  this  republican  frugality,  in  underpaying  our 
government-officers,  are,  that  the  Governors  and  Judges 
of  some  of  the  States,  are  actually  employed  in  prose- 
cuting some  other  calling,  in  addition  to  that  of  discharg- 
ing the  functions  of  the  executive  and  judicial ;  for  in- 
stance, in  keeping  tavern,  selling  tenpenny  nails,  dealing 
in  flour,  and  many  similar  employments,  equally  well 
adapted  to  the  sciences  of  political  philosophy  and  ju- 
risprudence. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  receives  a 

salary  of $25,000 

The  Vice-President  of  the  United  States 5,000 

The  Secretary  of  State 5,000 

The   Secretary  of   the    Treasury,   War,    and 

Navy,  each 4,000 

The  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States 5,000 

The  puisne  Judges,  each 4,000 


502  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED"  STATES. 

The  United  States  Ambassadors  to  the  first-rate 

European  Courts 89,000 

The  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New-York, 
one    of  the  most  liberally  paid  States  in  the 

Union,  each 3,500 

The  Governor  of  the  State  of  New-York 7,500 

The  Mayor  of  New- York 7,000 

The  Governor  of  Rhode-Island 800 

The  Governor  of  Vermont 600 

The  Governor  of  Connecticut 1,000 

The  Judges  of  Connecticut,  each 1,000 

It  is  needless  to  multiply  instances  ;  in  many  of  the 
States  the  Governors  and  Judges  are  even  more  scanti- 
ly paid  than  in  Connecticut,  Vermont,  and  Rhode- 
Island  ;  and,  of  course,  this  State  parsimony  produces 
all  the  evils  pointed  out  in  the  Chapter  on  Government, 
as  resulting  from  the  mistaken  policy  of  underpaying  the 
public  servants. 

The  pay  of  the  legislators,  whether  of  the  United  or 
separate  States,  in  the  Senates,  or  Houses  of  Represen- 
tatives, ranges  from  two  to  six  dollars  a  day,  during  their 
legislative  session.  If  it  be  really  wise  to  give  the  le- 
gislators any  wages  at  all,  their  present  stipend  seems 
to  be  fully  as  disproportionate  as  that  of  other  public 
servants ;  although,  doubtless,  in  some  instances,  among 
our  twenty  separate,  independent  republican  sovereign- 
ties, it  amounts  to  a  quantum  meruit. 

Mr.  Wirt  makes  some  very  sensible  and  judicious  ob- 
servations, in  his  Life  of  Patrick  Henry,  on  the  evils 
resulting 'from  the  mistaken  policy  of  underpaying  all  our 
public  servants.  Indeed,  this  beggarly  system  literally 
starved  Henry  and  Hamilton  out  of  the  service  of  their 
country,  and  drove  them  back  into  their  professional 
practice  for  a  morsel  of  bread. 

The  following  memoranda,  taken  from  the  government 
paper  of  March  14th,  1818,  will  show  in  what  a  conti- 
nual flux  of  mutation  men  and  things  are  rolled  under 
our  popular  institutions;  and  it  should  be  remembered 
that  this  eternal  rotation  is  so  favourite  a  feature  in  our 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  593 

republican  polity,  that  the  most  stupendous  consequen- 
ces are  augured  from  its  operation;  so  much  so,  that 
one  of  our  profoundest  philosophers  very  gravely  in- 
formed me  yesterday,  that,  "in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  there  would  be  only  two  empires  in  the  world, 
the  United  States  and  Russia :" — 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
there  are  now,  out  of  184  members,  only  six  who  were 
members  of  the  Tenth  Congress,  (1807-8-9,)  and  have 
continued  in  the  house  without  intermission.  Of  those 
who  were  members  of  that  Congress,  and  are  members 
of  the  present  house,  but  who  have  had  intermissions  of 
service,  there  are  but  six  or  seven.  Yet  the  principle 
of  rotation  is  even  more  strongly  illustrated  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  though  intended  by  the 
Constitution  to  be  the  more  permanent  service.  In  that 
body  there  is  but  one  individual  who  was  a, Senator  in 
the  Tenth  Congress.  In  the  Senate,  at  present,  eight 
members  out  of  forty  were  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  the  Tenth  Congress;  and  of  the 
present  House  of  Representatives  two  members  were 
in  that  Congress  Senators,  both  from  the  State  of  Ma- 
ryland. 

These  facts  afford  materials  for  much  reflection  on 
the  practical  operation  of  our  system  of  government. 

It  may  be  added,  that  there  is  no  member  of  the  exe- 
cutive department  of  the  government  who  was  then  con- 
cerned in  the  administration  of  the  government.  Mr. 
Monroe  was  then  a  minister  abroad,  and  Mr.  Adams  a 
member  of  the  Senate.  Of  the  present  Governors  of 
the  several  States  there  is  not  one  who  at  that  day 
filled  the  same  office.  Of  the  twenty,  two  were  then 
representatives  in  Congress. 

We  are,  also,  to  the  full,  as  fond  of  variety  as  of  ro- 
tation; for  the  rate  of  interest  on  money,  and  the  cur- 
rent value  of  the  dollar,  differ  in  the  several  States ; 
for  instance,  by  act  of  Congress,  government  receives 
six  per  cent,  on  the  bonds  due  to  the  United  States  ; 
New-York  regulates  the  rate  of  interest  at  seven  ;  Mas- 
sachusetts at  six  and  a  half  per  cent.  In  New- York 


504  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  dollar  is  valued  at  eight,  in  Pennsylvania  at  seven, 
in  Massachusetts  at  six  shillings.  Travellers  and 
foreigners  reap  the  richest  harvest  of  inconvenience 
from  the  want  of  a  uniform  standard  of  weights,  mea- 
gures,  and  values ;  and  if  any  rate  of  interest  must  be 
imposed  on  money,  the  trouble  would  certainly  be  much 
less,  if  our  neighbouring  States  would  establish  it 
equally  throughout  their  respective  dominions.  Indeed, 
it  is  expressly  given  to  Congress,  by  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, to  coin  money,  regulate  its  value,  and  fix  the 
standard  of  weights  and  measures. 

By  the  late  arrivals  from  Europe,  we  learn  some  facts, 
which,  had  they  transpired  sooner,  would  have  found  a 
place  in  their  appropriate  chapters ;  as  it  is,  they  must 
be  thrown,  with  other  miscellanies,  into  an  Appendix. 

The  papers  laid  before  the  two  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, by  order  of  the  Prince  Regent,  on  the  27th  of 
January,  1818,  manifest  a  great  improvement  during 
the  year  1817,  in  almost  every  branch  of  domestic  in- 
dustry, throughout  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Bri- 
tain and  Ireland.  The  estimates  for  the  year  1818, 
give  the  annual  government  expenditure  at  fifty-eight 
millions  sterling,  the  revenue  at  fifty-two  millions,  making 
a  deficit  of  six  millions.  Out  of  the  expenditures,  how- 
ever, nearly  sixteen  millions  will  be  paid  to  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  sinking  fund,  for  the  reduction  of  the  na- 
tional debt ;  and  the  supposition  is,  that  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  instead  of  issuing  Exchequer  bills,  or 
raising:  a  loan,  will  take  six  millions  from  the  existing 

O  £3 

income  of  the  sinking  fund,  in  order  to  supply  the  gap 
between  the  expenditure  and  revenue,  and  leave  the  re- 
maining ten  millions  to  be  applied  to  the  liquidation  of 
of  the  public  debt.  The  expenditure  is  to  be  lessened 
from  sixty-five  to  fifty-eight  millions,  by  a  reduction  of 
the  army  to  its  peace  establishment,  and  by  the  saving 
of  interest,  on  paying  off  the  five  and  four  per  cent, 
stocks. 

Treaties  have  also  been  concluded  between  Britain, 
Spain,  and  Portugal,  respecting  the  abolition  of  the 
slave-trade ;  the  Treaty  with  Spain,  is  laid  before  Par- 


RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

liament ;  that  with  Portugal,  yet  remained  incomplete, 
because  its  ratification  on  either  side  had  not  been  ex- 
changed. By  a  proclamation,  dated  Madrid,  December, 
1817,  the  King  of  Spain  prohibits  from  the  day  of  the 
date  of  the  proclamation,  all  his  subjects,  both  in  the 
Peninsula  and  America,  from  going  to  buy  negroes  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  north  of  the  line;  and  from  the 
30th  of  May,  1820,  a  similar  prohibition  is  extended  to 
those  parts  of  the  coast  of  Africa,  south  of  the  line. 

The  rumour  of  the  day,  (25th  March,  1818,)  is,  that 
our  government  have  determined  to  declare  war  against 
Spain.  Before  they  plunge  the  nation  into  hostilities, 
it  well  becomes  the  wisdom  of  the  Senate  to  pause  and 
ponder,  whether  or  not  the  powers  of  Europe  will  be 
inclined  to  sit  tamely  by,  and  see  the  United  States  strip 
the  nerveless  and  impotent  Spaniard  of  the  Floridas, 
Cuba,  and  Mexico,  and  thus  endanger,  or  render  useless, 
all  the  West-India  possessions  of  every  European  sove- 
reignty; and  whether  or  not  America,  with  only  ten 
millions  of  people,  scattered  over  two  millions  of  square 
miles,  is  at  this  moment  prepared  to  encounter  the  coa- 
lition of  crowns  in  Europe,  with  their  embattled  veterans 
at  leisure  for  any  new  enterprise,  weary  of  peace,  pro- 
cinct  for  war,  and  looking  with  a  jealous  and  fearful  eye 
upon  the  rapidly  growing  strength  of  our  giant  repub- 
lic ?  Is  the  impending  rupture  with  Spain  one  01  the 
first-fruits  of  western  predominance;  and  are  the  Atlan- 
tic States  to  purchase  a  President  from  Kentucky,  at  the 
price  of  all  the  blood  and  treasure  that  may  be  expended 
in  a  conflict  with  universal  Europe  ? 


FINIS. 


ERRATUM. 


In  p.  240,  for  «  six  hundred  and  forty  thousand,"  read  "sixty  four 
millions  of  acres."  yj 


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